


A Question of Professionalism

by GremlinSR



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU - slight canon divergence, Awkward Romance, F/M, Happy Ending, Professional Ethics, Sasuke Does Tough Love, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GremlinSR/pseuds/GremlinSR
Summary: Sasuke just really, really wants Naruto to leave him alone about dating Sakura. Meanwhile, Hinata accidentally seduces Sasuke with her professionalism.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke puts his foot down

“You want me to what,” Sasuke said flatly, staring at Naruto like he was a particularly vexing bug.

A bug with wide blue eyes who had convinced the whole village that Sasuke deserves a second chance. Dammit.

“I want you to go on a date with Sakura-chan,” he said and accompanied this request with his broadest, fakest grin.

Sasuke knew Naruto in a way others didn’t. He understood the darkest parts of him. Naruto, despite his goofy facade and carefree attitude, didn’t want Sasuke to date Sakura anymore than Sasuke wanted Sasuke to date Sakura.

She had grown into one of the village’s most accomplished kunoichi, it was true. She no longer needed anybody to hold her up, and was now a deadly addition to Team Seven. When the three of them showed up anywhere, people paid attention.

She didn’t hang all over Sasuke anymore, or try and demand his attention, but that didn’t mean he missed the way she looked at him, with a shadow of the same desperation she’d displayed when they were younger. She still loved him, and he could grudgingly admit to himself that he cared for her, too; just not like that.

“Why,” Sasuke finally settled on, but he knew Naruto heard the rest of it. _Why would you try and foist the girl you’re in love with on me?_

“Because, I think if you gave her a chance, you’d see how great she is,” Naruto bubbled and Sasuke grunted.

He knew he should be falling over himself to give Naruto anything he asked for. He had, after all, pulled Sasuke from the edge of madness. He’d never given up on Sasuke, not once, and when Sasuke had been ready to come home Naruto had cleared a path for him. No matter how surly, angry, or downright cruel Sasuke got on his bad days, the ones where Konoha seemed to claw and rip and reopen the wounds they’d given him, Naruto was there to shine a light into his dark corners.

But this wasn’t right. Because Naruto’s voice and even his smile were asking him to do this one thing as a favor to him, but his eyes were saying something different.

If Sasuke did this favor for Naruto, it would break the idiot’s heart. Of course, the fact that Naruto loved Sakura meant he would do anything for her happiness, including bullying Sasuke into dating her.

Sasuke could read the stubbornness in his friend in the set of his shoulders and the slight curling of his fists. Unless Sasuke could give him a very good reason, he wasn’t going to let it go. Sasuke stared at Naruto. Naruto stared back. Finally, he snorted.

“No,” he said, then threw down money to pay for their ramen and stood to leave, ignoring Ayame’s cheerful goodbye and stepped into the sunlight.

Naruto was making indignant noises from behind him as he scrambled to finish his sixth bowl of ramen and follow Sasuke.

“Aw, come on, Sasuke! Why not?” Sasuke ignored him and continued walking towards the hospital, where he had his weekly appointment to have his failing eyes worked on.

Currently, he’d rather pour bleach over them than see his medic, but it wasn’t like he had a choice. Kakashi was very clear on what would happen if he missed any of his court-mandated appointments.

Perhaps this was the problem, he thought as he tuned out Naruto’s ranting. Maybe all the time he spent with Sakura made it impossible for her to move on.

The people milling around didn’t even give them a second glance, since the scene had become a familiar one over the past year. Sasuke paused and Naruto opened the door to the hospital. He and ghosted through it, listening to Naruto go on and on about how Sasuke needed to open himself up if he was ever going to be happy or something equally ridiculous.

Sasuke wasn’t like Naruto. He didn’t need people to be content. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Sasuke generally found people to be trite, annoying, and unreasonable.

Especially any of the girls who claimed to ‘love’ him without having any clue as to who he really was. Well, except Sakura. He supposed at this point she was the only woman who actually knew him at all. Speaking of...

“Did she ask you to do this,” he cut into Naruto’s rant and he stopped talking, probably surprised that Sasuke was suddenly participating in the conversation.

Then he rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously.

“What? No! Haha, that’s - why would you -” Sasuke rolled his eyes, but inside he was seething.

He wasn’t exactly a sensitive person, but even he knew it was screwed up to ask the person who was in love with you to get you a date with somebody else.

Naruto seemed to understand what he was thinking because even though he was an idiot, he still was annoyingly observant about feelings _._ He dropped his hand and met Sasuke’s eyes with uncharacteristic seriousness.

“It’s not like that,” he said softly. “She just...she’s so sad, you know? I just want to help her be happy.”

Sasuke stared at him, unimpressed. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for somebody else’s happiness. He had enough on his plate dealing with his own fucked up emotions.

“Her happiness isn’t my responsibility,” he finally said before heading for the stairs.

When Naruto went to follow him, he sighed and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Going to come hold my hand during my checkup?” Naruto sputtered and flailed and Sasuke smirked and entered the stairwell.

“Idiot,” he said just before the door closed, smirk growing when he heard Naruto’s indignant insults even through the thick walls.

He hesitated at the bottom of the steps, a memory from his last appointment coming unbidden to him. Sakura blushing slightly when he’d removed his shirt so she could do the exam. The way her eyes had lingered...his eyes narrowed in thought.

Didn’t people always say that distance was the way to get over somebody? Or was that how the heart grew fonder? Either way, he was feeling too annoyed to deal with it that day. Sakura wouldn’t get over him if everybody kept pandering to her pining.

It was with that thought that he turned left instead of right when he exited the stairwell and made his way to Shizune’s office. She was sitting at her desk, frowning down at a medical chart, when he knocked politely on the doorframe. She glanced up, then did a double take when she saw who it was, her lips tightening.

“Uchiha-san, is there a problem with your appointment time today?”

“No,” he said bluntly, then entered the office and closed the door without asking for permission, ignoring the way she stiffened.

He turned towards her and leaned against the door, arms crossed over his chest and body language purposefully casual.

“I want a different medic,” he said and raised an eyebrow when she gaped at him in surprise.

She probably thought he was there to make an attempt to get out of the weekly physicals and healing sessions for his eyes. Like he would - he didn’t want to go blind any more than the next person.

To Shizune’s credit, it only took her a moment to recover. She narrowed her eyes at him and tapped the end of her pen against the medical chart she’d been studying.

“May I ask why?”

“Sakura makes me uncomfortable,” he said without fanfare.

“Sakura. Makes _you._ Uncomfortable,” she said and he didn’t miss the irony of the situation. Usually, it was him making other people discomfited.

“Yes.”

“Has she acted unprofessionally?” He could see it pained her to ask.

“No.”

“Okay...you’re going to need to give me more to go on, here, Uchiha-san.” He forced himself not to shift in discomfort.

“I know she’s in love with me. Since I don’t feel the same way, the examination itself, especially the part where I take off my shirt, is...”

“Uncomfortable,” Shizune finished for him and brought her fingers to her temples with a sigh. “There aren’t many people who can perform the procedure necessary to repair the damage to your eyes, you know.”

“Can’t you do it?”

What kind of a hospital only had one person who could perform a procedure, anyway?

“I could,” Shizune said slowly, “but I’m not sure that would be a good idea.”

She didn’t state her reason and Sasuke didn’t need her to. There were people, he knew, who would never forgive him for his part in the war. Shizune was one of them, and he couldn’t exactly blame her since she had lost her master in the last battle. He shrugged, conveying he wasn’t insulted, and she looked down at her desk in thought.

Sasuke wondered if he was about to be told to suck it up. Technically, he was within his rights to ask for a new medic, since they took things like emotional comfort seriously in the Medic Corps. In reality, though, many people in the hospital felt the same way about him that Shizune did.

He didn’t think Shizune would hurt him on purpose, but there was something to be said for ill intent messing with the healing process. There just might not be an option other than Sakura.

“Alright, follow me,” she finally said and stood from behind her desk.

He opened the door and stepped to the side so she could go through first. When she paused he held back a sigh, realizing she didn’t want him at her back. To her credit, she recovered quickly and swept past him, then turned towards the examination rooms. He followed behind her sedately and when she held open examination room three, he entered without complaint.

“Wait here,” she said and he inclined his head before sitting on the exam table.

He allowed his head to fall back on his shoulders and stared at the ceiling, contemplating how he had found himself in this situation. He was nineteen years old, the last of a noble and powerful clan. He had abandoned his village, trained under and then killed an S-ranked missing-nin, killed his own brother, joined a madman, killed a village elder, and participated in a war.

This situation seemed so absurd and petty in comparison. Uchiha Sasuke was part of a _love triangle,_ and it was ridiculous.

He would have happily ignored Sakura’s feelings for him until they went away, but instead, Uzumaki Naruto had to stick his nose into it. And now he was forced to put his foot down because Sasuke was a lot of things - emotionally unavailable, sometimes cruel, and generally unconcerned with the feelings of others. But he wasn’t stupid, and he knew that Team Seven was what allowed him to retain at least a tenuous grasp on his sanity and his humanity.

They were ridiculous, but they were his family, and it seemed like they had no idea how to deal with this situation. Which left him to somehow get Naruto and Sakura to pull their heads out of their asses. Apparently, he was the ‘tough love’ type when he loved at all. Shocking.

He sat in the exam room for almost an hour before the door opened. He did a double take when Hyuuga Hinata slipped inside and shut the door, a chart in hand.

“Good afternoon, Uchiha-sama,” she said in a soft voice.

He grunted as he took in her medic uniform. She ran her eyes over his chart, then looked up and gave him a small smile.

“Shizune-san just told me you would be transferring over into my care. Sakura-san will be in to show me the procedure on your eyes.”

Sasuke took a deep breath and wondered if this was his divine retribution for all of his sins. Of course, the medic that they would use to replace Naruto’s current love interest was the same idiot’s ex-fiancé.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t know how to do this?”

Hinata gave him another smile, this one reassuring. “Not this particular procedure, no, but I work with the eyes frequently. I am the main medic for my own clan, which means I also have experience working with problems that can arise from doujutsu. Usually, if people have an issue with eyes, they come to me.”

It was said to reassure, not to brag, and he didn’t sense any lie in it. If it was true, then why...

“Why haven’t you been the one doing the procedure from the start, then?” he snapped and he sighed when she hesitated.

Of course, Sakura had insisted on doing it herself, even though there was a resident specialist that would have done just as well. He waved her off before she could answer, knowing it would probably be something annoying and diplomatic.

A few minutes later Sakura entered. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were slightly red in a way that he knew meant she had been crying. She didn’t say a word to him, instead pulling out gloves with jerky motions and giving Hinata instructions in the brisk tone she only used in battle.

Sasuke resisted the urge to sigh. He knew she’d be upset over his request, but well...things were going to be a lot easier for her if she just gave up on him romantically.

They would be easier for him, as well. He carried around enough guilt without having the woman his best friend was in love with fawning over him. He held carefully still and Sakura put her hands on either side his eyes and talked Hinata through the sensitive and time-intensive process of repairing his optic nerves and chakra pathways. Her Byakugan was activated and she had a look of fierce concentration on her face.

To his surprise, there was no nervousness, despite the fact that she was obviously uncomfortable in Sakura’s presence, and vice versa. For the first time, Sasuke wondered what had happened to preempt the Hyuuga’s breakup with Naruto.

He had never given him a straight answer and Sasuke had never actually cared enough to ask. He hadn’t interacted with Hinata much while she was dating Naruto. They’d shared space, but other than a few polite greetings, never actually conversed.

With how awkward the atmosphere in the room was, he was beginning to think it was directly related to his friend’s feelings for Sakura. Sasuke sat stoically through it while Hinata asked questions full of technical jargon that he didn’t care to try and understand and Sakura pointedly avoided both their gazes.

Finally, it was over and Sakura was snapping her gloves off and leaving the room without a second look. Hinata was not unaffected and he remembered suddenly that he had heard rumors about how badly she’d taken the breakup, though nobody could get any details out of her. She looked fine to him, but then he wasn’t sure what somebody should look like after getting their heart broken.

“Uchiha-sama,” she said softly. “I’m going to listen to your heart now, okay?”

He grunted in acknowledgment and reached up to unbutton his shirt, and looked up when she made a noise in the back of her throat.

“You can keep your shirt on,” she said.

He slowly lowered his hands and she grabbed his wrist between cool fingers that looked soft but held the same callouses as his own - ones that spoke of hard training and the handling of weapons.

So she was still an active shinobi as well as the village’s go-to medic for everything eyes. After she took his pulse, she grabbed the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the proper ends in her ears, and then deftly lifted his shirt enough to push her hand under it and press the cold metal over his heart. After a few moments she walked around the table to do the same thing on his back.

She didn’t blush, she didn’t stutter, and her eyes didn’t linger. It was a wholly unique experience for Sasuke when dealing with a woman who got too close.

Wasn’t Hinata known for her blushing and stuttering? Yet she seemed completely unaffected by his presence. One hundred percent professional. He should have asked for her to be his physician ages ago.

“Breath in, please, Uchiha-sama,” she said and he did so.

She checked his reflexes and looked in his ears and asked him invasive questions about his bowel movements, all the while making notes on his chart.

“Okay. That’s all for today. I’ll see you next week?” He nodded, she smiled at him, and then they both left.

So that’s what a normal person’s doctor visits should be like. Huh.

Sasuke wasn’t surprised when Naruto came banging on his door that evening, anger flashing in his eyes.

“What the hell? I ask you to go on a date with Sakura and instead you embarrass her at work?” he finally said when he managed to make it past Sasuke’s traps and into his living room, only slightly singed.

Sasuke just grunted and held out a beer to him from his spot on the couch. Naruto glared at him, but eventually swiped the beer from his hand and plopped down on the couch.

“You really hurt her, you know?” he finally said. “Apparently they’re going to have to review her cases to make sure she isn’t harassing her patients or something now.”

Sasuke snorted. “She made me take off my shirt,” he finally said and Naruto blinked at him.

“Well...it’s a physical, right?”

Sasuke sighed. “Hinata didn’t,”

Naruto stiffened, beer stopping halfway to his lips. “Hinata? That’s your new doctor?”

“...Yes,” Sasuke refused to feel awkward about it when Naruto picked at the label on his beer bottle.

“How is she?” Sasuke sent him a look that said _How am I supposed to know something stupid like that?_

Naruto snorted then sighed and stared down at his feet. Luckily, he didn’t try to talk about his feelings about his ex-girlfriend. Sasuke relaxed against the couch, closing his eyes and tipping his head back against the cushion.

“I broke her heart,” Naruto said in a small voice.

Okay, apparently Sasuke wasn’t getting out of this. He grunted.

“Yeah, I know. I mean, Hinata’s great. She’s pretty and sweet and...and I just didn’t love her the way I wanted too. And I ended up hurting her because of it.”

Sasuke hummed, hoping that was the end of it. Thankfully, it was, because Naruto started in on what a jerk Sasuke was, and he relaxed into the familiarity of it. Looks like he’d still have to do some convincing before Naruto gave up on him suddenly falling in love with Sakura after years of feeling absolutely no romantic inclination towards her. God, his friends were pathetic.

000

Hinata gently replaced the last chart of her last patient of the day and sighed. She only worked at the hospital two days a week, as her clan duties and missions kept her busy. In fact, her expertise and focus with everything ocular meant that she didn’t have a lot of patients outside of the Hyuuga clan and those suffering from some sort of trauma or disease of the eyes.

She had initially been surprised when Sasuke’s case was assigned to Sakura, but after some thought had shrugged it off. Everybody knew Sasuke didn’t like to interact with anybody outside of his team (and didn’t seem to enjoy spending much time with them, either, to be honest) and so she’d assumed he had requested Sakura specifically.

She’d assumed wrong if the scene she’d been an unwilling witness to of Shizune taking Sakura to task was any indication. Hinata had never been a fan of confrontation, though nowadays she could deal with it without dissolving into a mess of nerves. War had a way of toughening somebody up.

The fact that Sakura, her one-time friend, was involved just made the whole thing worse. Some people might think she would enjoy watching Sakura get formally reprimanded by her boss, but Hinata had never been normal. She would rather just pretend the girl didn’t exist.

“He said you had him take off his shirt,” Shizune said, “and that your obvious feelings for him made him uncomfortable. Sakura, why did you request him as a patient if you couldn’t stay professional?” Shizune snapped.

“I stayed professional!” Sakura protested, cheeks heating. “I only had him remove his shirt because he was wearing a mesh undershirt that day! I couldn’t get my stethoscope under it!”

Shizune pinched the bridge of her nose and Hinata couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She had a soft spot for her master’s last and most talented student, and this had to be difficult.

“Sakura, one of your patients coming to me and asking for a new medic because his current one has romantic feelings for him should _not have happened._ You should have had him reassigned.”

“But -”

“You’re talented, Sakura, but we have other talented people on staff who can handle his case,” Shizune said softly. Then, “Hinata. You’ll be taking over as Sasuke’s doctor. Sakura, show her the procedure and get her caught up on his history.”

“Yes, Shizune-sama,” Hinata said with a polite bow and the woman gave her a tight smile.

“I know I don’t need to say this to you, but please don’t go gossiping about this. It will be noted in his files, but only the three of us have access due to the classified nature of his doujutsu.”

“Of course, Shizune-sama.”

Hinata wasn’t much of a gossip, and as such Shizune tended to be more loose lipped with her which was actually pretty ironic. She didn’t care one way or another about office politics, yet she knew more than the people that did enjoy a good bit of gossip could ever dream of.

Shizune had left the room and Hinata had busied herself with flipping through Sasuke’s most recent files while Sakura sniffled and blinked rapidly, trying to get ahold of herself. Hinata couldn’t muster the energy to feel sorry for her. Actually, she was a little appalled.

As medics, people needed to trust them to see them at their most vulnerable and treat them with professional respect. That Sakura had been using it as an excuse to get close to her love interest wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, but Hinata found it distasteful. Especially since there was a more qualified specialist who could have been working on his case.

Not that Hinata thought she was better than the Slug Sannin’s apprentice as a medic. No, she held no such illusions on that.

Most people, however, considered Hinata the best that there was when it came to dealing with the tricky, intricate collection of blood vessels, nerves, and in the case of doujutsu holders, chakra pathways of the eyes. Add in the Byakugan, which helped her see what others couldn’t, and she was undeniably the better choice for Sasuke’s physician.

The next few minutes were uncomfortable as Sakura still couldn’t look Hinata in the eye after that disastrous morning six months ago, and Hinata couldn’t help but feel some of that old ache that she’d worked so hard to banish from her chest in her presence. Up until now, they’d both done an admirable job of avoiding each other.

It was with relief that Hinata finally escaped and entered exam room three. Sasuke was sitting on the exam table, looking bored but unconcerned, and Hinata offered him her most professional smile. For a moment something close to apprehension flickered across his face, and then he was back to brooding at the wall.

Hinata loved her job as a medic, mostly because she knew she was good at it. The hateful stutter and blush that still plagued her at times weren’t present while she was working with a patient. In the exam room or operating table, she knew she was in control, and things like her prowess as a ninja or clan heir or fiancé just weren’t important.

Hinata made a few notes on her timesheet before waving goodbye to the nurses - already gossiping about the switch in Sasuke’s general physician - and left the hospital. She took a deep, cleansing breath of air before making her way towards the Hyuuga compound.

Despite their degraded personal relationship, Hinata held a lot of professional respect for Sakura. She was the expected future head of the hospital, the apprentice who Tsunade had passed all her knowledge onto. Sakura was supposed to be better than this.

Hinata shook her head at herself and smiled ruefully. She knew, better than most, that all of them were only human.

 _You’ll just have to be as professional and kind as possible,_ she thought to herself. _He needs to know medics can be trusted, that he shouldn’t be afraid to come to them if he needs help._

With that thought, she felt lighter. She couldn’t change the behavior of others, but she could help heal the damage they inflicted. That was, after all, what being a medic was all about.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been two months since Sasuke had requested to have somebody else become his medic. Naruto was still pushing him, Sakura was ignoring him, though he caught her looking at him with sad, hurt eyes during missions and practices, and Sai was clueless. So, business as usual.

His new medic was a pleasant surprise. She didn’t chatter, but she wasn’t pointedly ignoring him or looking at him like he was something she’d scraped off the bottom of her shoe either. Hinata had never been one of his ‘fangirls’ when they were younger, and she remained unaffected by him as an adult.

Her hands were cool but professional, and never touched him more than strictly necessary during his visits. Her eyes were warm but didn’t linger, and he found himself relaxing in her presence.

Going to the hospital was no longer a chore. At the moment, as fucked up as it sounded, Hinata was his favorite person.

“Uchiha-sama, hello,” she said in her usual soft tone as she entered his room, smile a little warmer than it had been two months ago due to acquired familiarity, but still not over the top.

“Sasuke,” he found himself grunting out. “And you’re the heir to your clan, you don’t need to use sama.”

Hinata paused where she’d been poised to open a drawer, but recovered quickly.

“You’re my patient,” she said in the most hesitant voice he’d heard from her since she became his doctor. “I want to show you the respect you deserve.”

Sasuke frowned. “So...you use all your patients’ last names? And use sama as their honorific?” She shook her head, and he raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what I thought. We’re peers and have known each other for over a decade. Use my first name.”

He didn’t know why it was suddenly important to him, but it was. He hated it when people treated him with familiarity they hadn’t earned (the day he enjoyed somebody calling him Sasuke-kun was the day he ate his hitai-ate) but he also didn’t like the overly formal attitude Hinata had with him.

Hinata studied him with her wide, pearl colored eyes, and for the first time, he realized that Hinata had grown into a beautiful woman. He didn’t generally care about such things, but he was surprised he hadn’t noticed before. Sasuke had noted that both Ino and Sakura were gorgeous, even if he didn’t feel any draw to them.

Hinata had always been good at hiding in the background, her soft mannerisms making her blend into her surroundings. It was, he thought, a useful skill, and one she must have developed on purpose.

“Alright,” she finally said. “As long as it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, Sasuke-san,” she said.

He frowned as she murmured a warning before going through the soothing motions of checking his vitals. She seemed less calm than usual today.

Not jittery, exactly, but her movements were a little jerky and she kept biting her lip and glancing up at him as though she were preventing herself from blurting something out. She’d also come in with more than his chart in her hands - there was an extra file that she’d set on the counter.

Finally, once she’d lowered her hands from his temples and leaned back, she spoke. “Sasuke-san, there’s something I’d like to speak with you about, if you have the time,” she said, sitting in the rolling stool after picking up the file and pulling it next to the exam table.

He eyed her, but she seemed more excited than nervous, though she was trying to hide it behind her usual professional demeanor.

“As you know, your use of the fully mature Sharingan causes damage to the chakra pathways in your eyes. That is why we do these weekly sessions - to repair the damage before it can become permanent, though there is cumulative deterioration that occurs despite the healing.”

He grunted - this had all been explained to him before. Eventually, if he kept using his Sharingan, he _would_ go blind. But Sasuke...Sasuke was an Uchiha, a shinobi, and he had a lot of mistakes to make up for. Plus, it wasn’t likely that he’d even live that long, not with the missions he picked up.

Hinata took a deep breath, and he noticed with some amusement that her cheeks had gone red and her eyes had widened in excitement as she leaned forward, though her hands were still folded primly in her lap on top of the folder she’d set on her thighs.

“I believe I have a way to strengthen those pathways so that they no longer become damaged when using your Sharingan,” she said in a rush.

For a long moment, he didn’t understand what she had said. Multiple people had told him that this wasn’t something that could be fixed. His brain kicked into gear when he saw that Hinata was staring at him expectantly.

“How?” he croaked out, then cleared his throat. “I thought that it wasn’t possible.”

Hinata gave him a soft smile and reached forward to give his hand a comforting pat.

“Last year I had a young man in our clan with a...similar problem, I suppose. He was born with weaker pathways than the rest of the clan. Activating his Byakugan was painful at best, and damaging at worst.

“I was able to come up with a method of building up those pathways artificially. The mechanics are a bit different with the Sharingan, but the problems are similar enough that I was able to come up with a possible solution for your issue.”

Sasuke leaned back and tried to get his bearings. It wasn’t often he was thrown off balance but this was - this was more than he’d ever hoped for.

“How sure are you?”

She handed him the folder, and he accepted it with numb hands, opening it as she began speaking.

“I’ve gone over it with Shizune-sama, and she agrees that it has a good chance of working. Eighty-five percent, give or take. Even if it doesn’t work, we don’t foresee it making things worse,” she said.

“I...” He trailed off, not sure what to say as he took in the information in front of him.

“The reason I’ve come to you now,” Hinata said, and now she looked nervous, “is because Shizune wants to get one more opinion. Since we can’t test this, as you’re the only Sharingan holder in the village, we want to go through as much due diligence as we can.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“Well, your records are sealed, and there aren’t a lot of people who would have the medical expertise...” she trailed off apologetically, and after a moment what she was saying hit him. He snorted.

“I don’t care if you talk to Sakura about it,” he said. “We’re still friends, you know.”

“Okay, Sasuke-san. If you’re sure it’s alright. The other issue is the time this will take. You will need to keep your Sharingan inactive for three weeks beforehand. During that time, you’ll need to come in every three days for me to heal the chakra pathways.”

“Why?” He asked, unhappy with the prospect of three weeks of being taken off duty. Who knew if the idiot would even survive that long without him.

Hinata gave him a reassuring smile. “Two reasons. Right now, your pathways are almost always slightly inflamed due to the stress activating your Sharingan puts on them. I need that inflammation to be almost nonexistent for the procedure to go well. Also, there is the matter of the cumulative damage that has been done to your vision.” Hinata’s face went grave.

“Right now, you’ve lost close to eleven percent of your visual capacity. If you let me do the frequent healings and refrain from activating the Sharingan, I think we can get you to nine percent. Once I do the procedure, all current damage will be irreversible.”

Sasuke huffed, not sure if three weeks of no missions was worth that two percent. Hinata must have known what he was thinking because she squared her shoulders.

“Please, Sasuke-san, let me do this. It is a matter of professional pride.”

He resisted the urge to smile at her earnestness. Sometimes he wondered how she had made it so far in the shinobi world. Probably the same way Naruto had, the optimistic moron. Just like he did when Naruto got worked up about something, he found himself giving in.

“...Fine.”

Hinata brightened. “Great! I have some papers I need you to sign. Once we get the go-ahead from Sakura, I’ll put in the request for your leave.”

He signed the papers and handed them over, and he again had to hold back laughter when he saw Hinata was practically vibrating with excitement. He stood and grunted when she told him she would get back to him within the next two days with Sakura’s report.

Sasuke was at the door when he found himself pausing, hand on the handle. He turned his head to the side.

“Hinata,” he said, and the rustling of the papers she’d been going through stopped.

“Yes, Sasuke-san?”

“Thank you,” he said, then slipped through the door, but not before he heard her whispered, “You’re welcome.”

000

Hinata sipped her tea and kept her eyes firmly on the medical chart she was studying while Sakura went over the procedure Hinata had outlined to fix the problem with Sasuke’s eyes. Shizune was working at her desk across from them, though Hinata knew she was just as excited to hear Sakura’s thoughts on it.

“Hinata-san,” Sakura finally said, and she glanced over at her, and saw that the girl was looking a little lost. “This is - this is amazing.” Hinata looked away and murmured a polite thank you.

Eight months later, and she still couldn’t interact with the girl without the ache of humiliation putting pressure on her chest.

“You think this could work, Sakura?” Shizune said, breaking into the awkward atmosphere.

“I - yes. Especially since the similar procedure Hinata performed on the Hyuuga was successful last year.” They devolved into a discussion of the details, and Hinata found herself forgetting her discomfort in favor of her enthusiasm.

“-and it looks like you need somebody to assist, at least for stage two. I’ll do that,” Sakura said, and Hinata’s breath hitched.

“No,” she said, voice firm despite her trepidation. Sakura stopped and blinked at her in confusion before her eyes narrowed.

“Hinata, I know that you’re mad at me, but you can’t let personal matters get in the way of giving patients the best possible care.”

Hinata was rendered speechless at the hypocrisy of that statement while Shizune cut in, saying something diplomatic and reassuring. While usually, Hinata would avoid confrontation, she had no problem speaking up when it was in protection of others. For some reason, she felt especially protective of Sasuke.

“Actually, it is with Sasuke’s well being in mind that I say this: you will not be assisting me, Sakura. You are acting in the capacity of a consultant only,” Hinata said, voice not shaking or stuttering once.

Both women stared at her in shock before Sakura‘s legendary temper made an appearance. She cracked her knuckles, and a vein throbbed in her forehead.

“Are you saying that I would harm Sasuke?”

Hinata hesitated, because, no, that’s not exactly what she was saying.

“Sakura-san,” she said gently. “Did you tell Sasuke that there was a medic who specializes in eyes, and more importantly, Doujutsu, on the hospital staff?”

Sakura’s mouth worked for a moment, not expecting Hinata to go in that direction with her reply. “I - no. I’m not - there was no need, I’m the most talented medic on staff, and I figured out a way to...to heal...”

Sakura’s eyes widened before glancing down at the folders in realization. Hinata didn’t stop, though, knowing that it was important Sakura understand the depth of her mistake.

“It took me two months to figure this out,” she said. “If it had been me working with Sasuke-san from the beginning, he probably could have avoided at least eight months worth of cumulative damage. Instead of looking at nine to eleven percent of vision loss, it could have been as low as six or seven percent.”

Sakura put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide and bright, and Shizune sucked in a breath.

“Did - did you tell him that?” Sakura finally said after a few minutes, voice wobbling.

“I did not, as we cannot be sure what may have happened. But Sasuke-san is very intelligent. I do not doubt he already worked it out himself.” Shizune swore and put a hand to her forehead.

Hinata knew this was her mistake as well - it was her job to assign personnel, to a certain extent.

“Why - why didn’t you ever say anything? Offer to help?” Sakura said, suddenly angry again.

Hinata took a deep breath. “I assumed you were assigned to him because he requested others not be allowed to view his files. As I am a Hyuuga, and our clans have a...history, I did not think it would be appropriate for me to ask for access. I also did not know that he was facing blindness, or had any issues at all, really, as his records are highly classified.”

Sakura and Shizune both looked upset, though the pink haired girl looked like she might be ill. Hinata did feel sympathy, but she also felt a good deal of disappointment that the two women had let their personal feelings for Sasuke interfere with giving him the best possible treatment. Sakura because she loved him, and Shizune because she despised him, though it was apparent she wasn’t trying to be malicious - she had just buried her head in the sand.

“Shizune will assist me in Stage Two,” Hinata finally said. “As his primary physician, I can make that decision.”

Shizune took a deep breath and nodded. Hinata had faith that the woman wouldn’t let her less than good opinion of Sasuke affect his treatment. Not after this, anyway.

“If we agree, I’ll file the paperwork and begin the preliminary work needed. If Hokage-sama can immediately remove Sasuke-san from the rosters, then I will schedule his surgery for three weeks from now.”

Both women nodded, obviously too lost in their thoughts to answer out loud. Hinata stood and left them to it - she had somebody’s eyesight to save, after all.

She couldn’t deny the excitement that went through her at that thought. Hinata had never been the best at anything, and to be the one person who could solve this problem was...nice. Her self-esteem, never considerable to start with, had taken a severe hit when Naruto broke up with her, and she’d been clawing her way back for months.

She still remembered what Hinabi had said to her four months ago when she’d grown tired of Hinata’s ‘sulking.’

_“Do you think this is what Neji-niisan would have wanted for you? He sacrificed his life for yours so that you would have the chance to be happy. Because he believed you were worth it. Will you disregard his sacrifice so easily? You don’t need Naruto to be happy! You don’t need him to prove your self-worth! Get out of bed, and learn to just...just love yourself for you!”_

It had been harsh and underhanded and probably cruel to use Neji’s death that way but Hinabi hadn’t been wrong, exactly. Neji would have been furious on her behalf, and he would have insisted that she make something of herself whether Naruto wanted her or not.

So she’d gotten out of bed, and promised never to place her self-worth into somebody else’s hands again. She owed Neji that much, at least.

000

“Hey, bastard! Kakashi-sensei just told us you’re off the rosters for four weeks! Are you sick?” Naruto asked, jogging to catch up to Sasuke as he left the training rooms - where he’d worked out without his Sharingan, the memory of Hinata’s big earnest eyes keeping him from breaking the rules.

“No,” he said.

Naruto waited for him to say more, and when it became apparent he wasn’t going to, launched into a speech about teams and trust, and _Who did you piss off jerk?_

Finally, once the blonde’s complaining stopped being amusing, he spoke.

“Hinata thinks she found a way to fix my eyes. I need three weeks for her to do pre-surgery stuff and a week for recovery,” he finally said.

Naruto gaped at him in shock and Sasuke hoped he hadn’t looked as idiotic as his teammate did when Hinata first told him.

“That - that’s amazing!” he finally yelled, and Sasuke sighed as he was pulled into a crushing hug, and groaned when he realized Naruto was crying.

“Moron, why are you crying? And get off of me, if you get snot on my shirt, I swear to all the gods -” Naruto pulled back, sniffling and smiling at the same time.

“I’m so relieved. I was so worried that you’d go blind and have to get a dog because you _hate_ dogs -”

Sasuke rolled his eyes to cover the warmth in his chest at how honestly distressed Naruto had been about his eventual blindness. He never suggested Sasuke stop being a shinobi - he understood the drive to keep being the best, after all, and just how lost Sasuke would be without the job - but apparently that didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned.

“Yeah, well, Hinata’s pretty smart, apparently.”

Naruto went quiet, the way he always did when Hinata came up. It was, Sasuke realized suddenly, out of guilt.

“Naruto,” he finally said, “What happened with her, anyway?”

The blonde looked away. “I - I’m not -”

They were interrupted by Konohamaru (kami, what were his parents thinking with that name, anyway?) leaping out to beg Naruto to train with him.

The blonde groused and moaned, but Sasuke could tell the boy’s attention made him happy. Finally, he acquiesced, and in the flurry of activity, Sasuke’s question never got answered.

000

“What kind of missions do you go on?” Sasuke asked at their next session. She blinked at him, taken off guard, before answering.

“Um. Tracking and retrieval. I also act as a medic at times,” she said. Sasuke nodded - not surprising, with who her genin team had been.

“You like it? I mean, as much as you like working at the hospital?” The question came out stilted and awkward.

Small talk wasn’t exactly his strong suit, but he found he was...curious. Hinata frowned for a moment as she lifted her hands to hover over his eyes.

“I do,” she admitted quietly.

“You’re good at it,” he stated, and she shrugged, pausing to note something on his chart. He took that as a yes, as her cheeks turned a little red.

“Naruto said you had really improved since we were genin, and I saw you fighting a bit in the war. You’re good.”

He watched her carefully as he said Naruto’s name, but other than a tightening of her hand on the pen, she didn’t react.

“That’s kind of you to say, Sasuke-san,” she finally said. “That’s all for today. I’ll see you on Wednesday?”

He grunted his agreement, feeling a bit disappointed, though he wasn’t sure why.

On Wednesday, he picked up where they’d left off. “Maybe we can train together after this,” he said, and once again he’d surprised her.

“I - I’d like that, Sasuke-san,” she stuttered, and he found himself thinking it was kind of cute, now that he’d gotten to know her professional, unruffled side.

“...Somebody told me I should find a hobby,” Sasuke said at their next session.

He didn’t mention that the ‘somebody’ was his court-mandated Yamanaka therapist.

Hinata hummed. “Hobbies can be very relaxing,” she said as she scribbled something down on her ever-present chart.

“Do you...have any?” he finally asked, and she gave him a small smile as she set the chart aside and moved her hands to his eyes.

“I do,” she said shyly.

He stared at her, which wasn’t difficult considering her face was only about six inches from his. His eyes tracked the lines her activated Byakugan left on her face, and after a moment she continued.

“Um. I have a garden. A flower garden. I also enjoy swimming.”

Sasuke frowned. “Like...for exercise?”

“Ah...no, not exactly. I just enjoy it. It’s very...quiet,” she said, and her cheeks went a little red even as her hands remained steady. “I enjoy the weightlessness of it, I guess.”

He just grunted, but couldn’t help but wonder what kind of weight the woman held on her shoulders that made her seek the calm, floating feeling of water. The following session, he once again continued the conversation.

“What hobbies do you think I’d enjoy?”

Hinata seemed to have become used to his strange questions because she didn’t flinch or look unsure this time.

“You’re a very self-contained person, so nothing social,” she said. “I think you also like to see results from your actions. You may enjoy gardening.”

She picked up his wrist to take his pulse. He blinked, because those were accurate assessments of him.

At his next appointment, he asked what her favorite color was (blue). To his surprise, she hesitantly asked him for his.

“...Grey,” he admitted, and she only smiled instead of telling him it was a boring favorite color, or taking it as proof that his soul was just as dark as everybody assumed.

“It is a very soothing color,” she said softly.

She pulled a book out of a drawer as he was leaving and shoved it into his hands before she slipped out the door and down the hall, stuttering out a goodbye and blushing.

 _A Beginner’s Guide to Gardening,_ he read on the cover, and couldn’t stop the small smile that flitted across his face. It was old and well-used, so she had probably given it to him from her own personal library. For some reason he found that more acceptable than if she had bought him a new one.

A few more sessions, and he coaxed out her favorite food (she loved sushi), and that she had a horrible, debilitating fear of spiders that she’d had to pretend to get over to appease her sensitive Aburame teammate. He admitted that he’d always found something particularly disturbing about deer.

“I...deer? But _why?”_ She’d blurted, even as she tried to hide a smile behind his chart.

Sasuke shrugged. “Their eyes. They’re just...empty,” he grumbled, and smirked when she let out a little giggle.

“Don’t worry,” she finally said as she moved her hands into position.

He watched with the same fascination as he always did as she activated her Byakugan. He used to think it was drab and inferior compared to his Sharingan. Now, he found himself thinking it was elegant, and, at least compared to his cursed eyes, pure.

Upfront, no hidden traumatic triggers or required fratricide. Sasuke was almost envious, despite his stubborn pride for his clan that never left him.

“I won’t tell Shikamaru,” she said, and giggled again, an innocent sound that was at odds with the bulging veins on her temples.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’d care,” Sasuke said, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes while Hinata was working on them. “The only thing that can pull him out of his usual stupor are emergencies, Naruto, and his terrifying fiancé,” he said and was rewarded with another laugh, this one fuller.

“Shikamaru-kun is a very strong shinobi,” she scolded half-heartedly, then lowered her hands. “You shouldn’t say such things about him.”

Sasuke just raised his eyebrow at her, and she hid another smile. She then looked down at whatever was written down, and once again her polite professionalism was in place.

“Okay, Sasuke-san. I’d like to do some tests to see how much of your vision we’ve recovered. The swelling has gone down all the way, so tomorrow we can continue with the surgery as scheduled. If you’re still okay with that?”

He inclined his head, and let her run most of the tests in silence. He wasn’t nervous, exactly, but he was a little apprehensive about the upcoming surgery. What if it wasn’t successful? An eighty-five percent chance of success still left a fifteen percent chance of failure. With his cursed eyes, who knew.

“It will be okay, Sasuke-san,” Hinata finally said, voice soothing, and his gaze darted to her face and took in her soft but confident smile. “If this doesn’t work, I promise I won’t stop trying to find a cure.”

He blinked at her. “You would do that for a traitor?” he said before he could think better of it.

Hinata’s eyes widened in a rare show of surprise and then narrowed. She set aside the paddle she’d been about to hand him to cover the eye she wouldn't be testing, and rolled her chair, so she was directly in front of him.

“It’s true that you made some bad choices,” she said, not dropping his gaze. And how many people other than Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura were willing to meet his gaze? “What happened to you, though...that’s not something that is easy to get past. I think nobody can judge your actions too harshly, not after discovering what happened to you. What matters is that you’re here, now, trying to make amends.”

Sasuke gaped at her and couldn’t help but wonder what Naruto was thinking, breaking up with Hinata. She was like a reserved female version of him, with her capacity for kindness and empathy. Not to mention she was quite attractive and very intelligent and accomplished.

Hinata broke the moment by clearing her throat and then handing him the paddle, professional smile back in place.

“Please cover your left eye, Sasuke-san.” Unsure how to respond to what she’d just said, he covered his eye, not missing her small smile before she turned when he accidentally covered his right eye instead.

000

Sasuke sat in his hospital bed, fingers tapping in annoyance. He’d known he’d have to spend twenty-four hours with bandages over his face to let his eyes completely heal, so he didn’t strain them, but he hadn’t thought about how boring it would be. His team had already visited, though Sakura had taken off as quickly as was possible.

Sasuke wasn’t an idiot - he’d already figured out that some of his vision loss could have been prevented if Hinata had been his doctor from the beginning. He also couldn’t muster the energy to be upset about it.

The last few years had given him perspective, and he knew that the deterioration of his eyes was due to his own bad decisions. Sakura may have allowed herself to become emotionally compromised by Sasuke, but, well, that’s just how Team Seven was _._ They were all just bumbling around, crashing into things and then helping each other pick up the pieces.

How could he judge her when his selfishness had been so much more catastrophic? Of course, he didn’t say that, instead hoping that the lack of change in the way he treated her would clue her in that he wasn’t upset.

It seemed as though that wasn’t in the cards for him, however. He sighed heavily and cocked his head to the side when familiar footsteps turned down the hallway and approached his room.

“Sasuke-san,” Hinata’s soft voice said, and he found himself relaxing as the smell of lavender reached his nose.

He knew that the smell came from her shampoo from hours spent sitting just feet from her long, shiny hair.

“Hinata,” he greeted.

“How are you? Any pain?” She asked, and the rustle of paper told him she was looking at his chart.

“No. Some pressure, but no pain.” She hummed in response.

“That’s to be expected. It should fade by tomorrow.”

“I’m bored,” he grumbled, and he heard the smile in her voice when she responded.

“Please hang in there, Sasuke-san. We’ll be able to remove the bandages tomorrow. I’m going to touch your face,” she warned, and he nodded.

Her cool hands touched his cheeks before moving to check his bandages, and the familiar feel of her chakra probing at his eyes soon joined them.

“Everything seems fine,” she said.

He grunted, and she took a step away before pausing. He heard the sound of her fidgeting and cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

“Did you read the gardening book?” she finally asked, the sentence accompanied by her shifting from one foot to another.

“I did,” he said, cheeks heating at the admission for some reason.

“Oh. What did you think?”

“My mother had a garden when I was younger,” he found himself saying. Why did he always speak without thinking around this woman? It was probably because she managed to be so unassuming and understanding.

“I started clearing out her old flower beds to plant new ones.”

“Oh,” Hinata said, sounding surprised. “That - that’s really nice.” Another hesitation, before she rushed out, “I went out and bought a book on v-vegetable gardens on my lunch break. I’m about to get off shift. I could - I could stay here and read it. Out l-loud?”

Sasuke paused. That was the last thing he’d expected.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I j-just thought you might be bored. Please forgive my -”

“Okay,” Sasuke said, cutting her off.

“I - okay,” she said after a moment of surprised silence. “I-I’ll go sign out and get my stuff; then I’ll come back. I’ll stop and get something from the cafeteria, too. Would you...like anything?” she said tentatively.

“...Maybe some chips.”

“Okay,” she said. Then, one more time, probably more to herself than Sasuke, “Okay.”

He fell asleep to her reading about soil types and climate. Despite being temporarily blind, he felt safer than he had in a long while.


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke stopped at the door to the restaurant, looking around until he spotted the familiar heads of pink and blonde hair.

He made his way over to their table and noted distantly that Sakura was wearing a black off the shoulder dress. He wondered if she was going out with Ino after their dinner.

“Sasuke!” Naruto called, smile breaking over his face at the sight of him.

Sasuke was hit with the usual gratitude he felt around him. It was nice that there was one person who could look at him with true delight when he showed up.

“Sasuke-kun,” Sakura said, and he resisted the urge to twitch, instead grunting in greeting.

“So...” Naruto said after Sasuke asked the waiter for water. “What did Hinata say?”

He was practically vibrating in place, waiting to hear the news on whether the procedure was successful. Sasuke took a sip of his drink, ignoring the two pairs of wide eyes that were staring him down.

“...It was a success,” he finally said when he saw an explosion was imminent if he didn’t reveal the results. Naruto let out a whoop, and Sakura smiled.

“Oh, Sasuke, I’m so happy for you!” she said, leaning out of her chair to give him a hug.

They spent another few minutes celebrating but Sasuke didn’t miss the tenseness in Naruto’s shoulders or the nervous twitching of Sakura’s. The reason behind it became apparent when Naruto suddenly gasped dramatically.

“Oh crap! I forgot. Kakashi-sensei asked me for help doing...um...Hokage things. Sorry, I have to go. Just stay here and eat without me. Bye!” And then he was gone.

Sasuke clenched a fist in his lap, good mood from his session with Hinata gone. He glanced over and saw Nara Shikamaru was watching with lazy but interested eyes from where he was sitting at a nearby table with Ino and Temari. He tilted his head and gave Sasuke a sympathetic look. It didn’t take a genius to recognize that Sasuke had been set up.

Sasuke took a deep breath and was relieved when the waitress appeared. Unable to find a way to get out of the situation without further degrading his relationship with Sakura, he ordered the first thing he saw on the menu.

Sakura was fidgeting with her spoon, and eventually she inhaled and looked up - a clear sign that she’d gathered her courage. “Sasuke, I wanted to apologize.”

He shrugged. “You can’t help what the idiot does any more than I can,” he grumbled, and her brow scrunched.

“I meant for - for insisting that I should be your medic,” Sakura finally said in a soft voice. “I didn’t think that...I wasn’t trying to...”

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. “It’s fine,” he finally said.

Sakura was staring down at her lap. “It’s not. I - Hinata probably could have saved more of your eyesight if I’d -”

“You were trying to help,” he finally got out. “My eyesight is...the issue is something I brought on myself.”

He was distracted for a moment when an ANBU appeared next to Shikamaru, but Sakura pulled his attention back to her. “Well...okay. I’m still sorry. Um. After this, do you maybe want to -”

He was saved from hearing her request and having to answer whatever Sakura was about to ask when Shikamaru ambled up to their table. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him in question.

“Sasuke. The Hokage just sent us a summons.”

“But - but Sasuke’s on medical leave!” Sakura protested.

Shikamaru shrugged. “I think he just needs him to consult on something. Nothing strenuous. It is, however, time sensitive,” he said a little pointedly.

Sakura slumped and Sasuke studied her. He could admit that she looked pretty, with her creamy shoulders contrasting against the black of her dress. Her pink hair was curled and had a healthy shine. Sasuke still felt nothing other than the usual fond exasperation that his team instilled in him. With an internal sigh, he pulled out some money and put it on the table.

“Sorry to bail on you, Sakura,” he said, and felt a little better when she offered him a tentative smile.

He followed Shikamaru out and heard Ino calling for Sakura to join her and Temari at their table.

Sasuke fell into step next to Shikamaru and glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. He hadn’t ever gotten a read on how Shikamaru felt about his return. He treated him the same way he treated almost everybody else - with a bored sort of indifference.

“You didn’t really get summoned with me, you know,” Shikamaru said, sounding a little amused.

Sasuke frowned. “Why...?”

Shikamaru shrugged. “Seemed like you could use a save, I guess.”

Sasuke fought to keep his usual stoic expression in place as they continued walking. “Why would you help me?” he finally settled on.

Shikamaru took out a cigarette and Sasuke shook his head when he offered the pack to him. “Well, we’re comrades, right? And you’re important to Naruto.” Sasuke grunted and tried to ignore the warm feeling moving through him.

It shouldn’t matter what his peers thought of him, and it didn’t used to mean anything to him one way or another. Lately, however, he had been wishing not to be hated at the very least.

They were in front of the tower before Sasuke spoke again. “Thank you. I didn’t want to be there, but I also didn’t want to...”

Shikamaru stopped and turned, studying him with suddenly intense eyes before relaxing. “Naruto is making a mistake, trying to push you together. I tried to tell him, but,” he shrugged and took a drag of the cigarette. “He’s stubborn.” Sasuke snorted at the understatement.

“You know,” Shikamaru said slowly as he dropped his butt on the ground and stepped on it, “he’s stubborn, but if you give him a good reason, he’ll stop with the matchmaking.”

“I guess ‘I’m not interested’ won’t cut it.” Sasuke said wryly, and Shikamaru smirked.

“No, but if you were, say, dating somebody else...” Shikamaru trailed off, and Sasuke was actually unable to answer him, he was so surprised. “Well, I am actually supposed to go in to work. Think about it,” he said with a shrug before slouching inside.

Sasuke rolled the idea around in his head while he made his way home. Who was he even supposed to date? Wouldn’t that be trading one problem for another?

He was pretty sure that Shikamaru was right, though. Naruto would back off if Sasuke started seeing somebody else. He was a hopeless romantic and wouldn’t want to come between Sasuke and his nonexistent girlfriend.

Sasuke shook his head at himself. The whole point was moot. He wasn’t interested in dating his fangirls, and he didn’t know any women (other than Sakura) who actually liked him as a person. He sighed after he entered his house and flopped onto the couch. No, the only real option was to just wait Naruto out. Hopefully, Sakura would find somebody to love that actually loved her back in the way she wanted them to.

Sasuke was on his way to his last follow up appointment three days later when Naruto appeared next to him with his favorite tea in hand.

“Hey, Sasuke. How are you? Tomorrow we’re going on a mission together. Man, I can’t believe it’s been a whole month,” he said, and Sasuke sighed but took the offered drink, letting Naruto ramble until he finally got to the reason he’d been hiding in wait for Sasuke.

“So, uh, there’s that medical ball thing coming up next week, and you know, Sakura doesn’t have a date -”

“No,” Sasuke snapped, the early morning and subject making him lose his temper. “Naruto, I don’t want to date Sakura, and I never will. Just drop it.”

Next to him, Naruto went silent. Sasuke was pretty sure that if he glanced over, he’d be staring at him with big, sad eyes. Why did he have to choose the most annoying person on earth as his best friend? After a few minutes without a response, Sasuke started to think that maybe he’d won this round.

“Sakura’s really great, you know,” Naruto started, and Sasuke closed his eyes in frustration. “I know that you still see her as -”

“I’m in love with somebody else,” Sasuke blurted, then regretted it when Naruto flailed and spilled tea all over himself and Sasuke. He hissed but otherwise didn’t react, glad that he’d worn black that day.

“What? Who? How? Do you even _talk_ to anybody outside of Team Seven?” Naruto finally got out.

“Keep it down, idiot,” Sasuke hissed. “And yes - I have missions outside of our team, you know,” he grumbled, then wished he hadn’t when Naruto immediately began pestering him for a name.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Sasuke finally said, then was forced to stop when Naruto appeared in front of him, expression somber.

“Sasuke, have you told her how you feel?” he said earnestly.

Sasuke sighed, and Naruto must have taken that as a no because he continued to give an impassioned speech on how Sasuke would never get the girl of his dreams if he didn’t try. Sasuke just stepped around him and kept walking, not wanting to be late for his appointment.

“...and if it doesn’t work out, if she says no, then there’s always Sakura-chan!” Naruto finished happily, and it was Sasuke’s turn to twitch.

What was the point of lying if he was going to end up in the same position as before?

“So you’ll do it today?” Naruto said, and Sasuke grunted.

Naruto beamed. “Great! Good luck, let me know if she says no, and I’ll tell Sakura you can be her date!” he rushed out before disappearing.

Sasuke sighed and tilted his head back to look at the sky. He needed new friends.

He shuffled up to the exam room, and for some reason that he couldn’t name, he was feeling a little trepidation about this being their last session. Hinata had explained to him that she wasn’t a general physician, and so, other than him stopping by once a month for the first six months to make sure the procedure was still holding, he wouldn’t be seeing her anymore.

He sat on the exam table, thinking. Sasuke was going to have to be firm with Sakura, and the idea was...not one that made him happy, despite his therapist’s insistence that he had to put down boundaries.

Sasuke knew how much he’d hurt his team when he ran away, and in the subsequent years after, and the simple truth was that he just didn’t want to cause them more pain.

Hell, he’d almost killed Sakura, which made her infatuation with him even more baffling. Wasn’t it supposed to be a bad idea to date somebody who had previously mocked, degraded, and hurt you? Not that Sasuke could claim emotional intelligence, but, well...between his guilt and her memories, how would they be a good combination?

The door opened and he was pulled from his thoughts when Hinata entered. The tension in his shoulders lessened when she smiled. It was warm but didn’t hold any expectation or avarice. Kakashi was the only other person that looked at him that way these days, and he was too busy being the Hokage to spend a lot of time with Susake.

“Good morning,” she said in her soft voice.

“Morning,” he asked.

“How are your eyes feeling? You activated your Sharingan yesterday, correct? Was there any pressure or pain?”

“They’re good. No pain. It actually feels easier to use it than it did before,” he admitted, and she brightened.

“Really? Hmm, I suppose that makes sense, now that we’ve taken care of the inflammation issue,” she muttered and brought her hands up to rest on his temples.

He relaxed into her touch and she smiled before activating her Byakugan. When she pulled back she was beaming at him, and he blinked at her, feeling a little off balance. “Everything still looks good, Sasuke-san.”

He just grunted, still rendered speechless as she continued to rattle off instructions on follow-up and symptoms he should see her for immediately if he noticed them. He watched the now-familiar sight of her noting things down on her chart and was hit with the realization that he would miss her.

“Hinata,” he said, stilted, and she stopped talking to look up at him expectantly. “I need a favor.” He’d just had a slightly crazy idea - one that would get Naruto off his back and allow him to remain close to Hinata.

“What is it?” She put down the chart, looking concerned.

“I need you to go on a date with me,” he rushed out. Hinata's jaw dropped.

“I just - Naruto keeps trying to get me to date Sakura -” she flinched, and he felt guilty for bringing the two of them up but kept going, “-and I only now got him to back off by saying I was interested in somebody else. But if I don’t actually get a date, he’ll make me go to this ball thing with Sakura. I just. I don’t want to lead her on,” he finished a little lamely.

Hinata was silent for so long that he felt his palms begin to sweat. “I’m sorry, Sasuke-san, but I don’t want to lie to anybody,” she finally said, looking down at her hands. “I won’t pretend to date you.”

“Then date me for real,” his traitorous mouth said and he wondered if this is what Naruto felt like all the time, just blurting things out.

Her head whipped up so fast that he was almost worried she’d given herself whiplash.

“Go out on a date with me for real. I...you’re not horrible.”

He cringed at that last sentence and waited for the inevitable blow up.

000

“Hinata-nee, you need to move on,” Hanabi scolded, delving into a well-worn argument that Hinata was getting tired of hearing.

Why did she have to date to move past her ex? Hadn’t Hanabi been the one to tell her months ago that she didn’t need a man to be happy? Hinata wasn’t going to waste her time, or anybody else’s, with somebody she wasn’t interested in dating. When the time was right, she would know.

Of course, she tried to communicate this to Hanabi, but her sister just rolled her eyes. “Please, Hinata, everybody just thinks you’re still holding out, waiting for him to come back.”

She didn’t miss the way her sister studied her carefully as she said that. Hinata didn’t react, though the question made her chest tighten with humiliation. She was reasonably sure, on most days, that she wouldn’t take Naruto back. Not with the way things had ended.

She murmured something polite back before making her exit, relieved that it was a hospital day. She perked up when she remembered that Sasuke would be her first patient.

At first, she had set out to put him at ease and let him know that he could trust her to take his health - mental and physical - seriously. The last few months, however, they had become something close to friends.

He had even asked her to become one of his sparring partners, which was flattering. It was no secret that he was strong enough to be Hokage if it weren’t for the continued distrust of many of the villagers.

Hinata could see why Naruto insisted that Sasuke was good, despite his mistakes. She thought his bumbling attempts at conversation were sweet, once she figured out that’s what they were. She could also see why Sakura was so enamored by him.

He was handsome, there was no doubt about that, but he also had a presence that seemed to scream ‘strong and dangerous.’ Not something Hinata had ever been drawn to before, but then she’d only really been drawn to one person before now.

Hinata entered the room and offered Sasuke a sincere smile. Eager to see if the surgery held up even after he activated his doujutsu, she asked him some follow up questions and looked at his pathways - still fine, no inflammation. Relief, joy, and pride flooded her, and she almost didn’t hear him when he spoke.

“Hinata,” he said, cutting into what she was saying. The tone of his voice brought her focus back to him. “I need a favor.”

“What is it?” she put down the chart, concerned.

“I need you to go on a date with me,” he said in a rush. Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him in shock. “I just - Naruto keeps trying to get me to date Sakura -” she couldn’t help her flinch, though she did her best to hide it, “-and I only now got him to back off by saying I was interested in somebody else. But if I don’t actually get a date, he’ll make me go to this ball thing with Sakura. I just. I don’t want to lead her on.”

Hinata stared at him, unsure exactly what she was supposed to be feeling about everything he’d just said. Of course, there was pain - Naruto was never an easy subject for her, though it was a lot easier than it would have been a few months ago. She also felt a bit annoyed at what he’d revealed about Naruto pushing Sakura on Sasuke, especially after the fiasco with his eyes. It all just felt wrong.

She wanted to help him, but she also knew that any date she went on would get a lot of scrutiny, especially if it was with Uchiha Sasuke. She just didn’t think she had it in her to keep up a facade - especially one regarding her love life.

She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to lie to anybody,” She looked down at her hands. “I won’t pretend to date you.”

“Then date me for real,” he said, and she brought her head up so fast to stare at him that she felt a slight twinge in her neck. He took a deep breath. “Go out on a date with me for real. I...you’re not horrible.”

He immediately looked like he wanted to take the words back, and she had to hold back a laugh.

Most people would probably slap him for that remark, but she still remembered when he told Naruto he was ‘okay’ the time they’d gotten drunk when Hinata was over and Naruto started blubbering all over him about how Sasuke was his best friend, and he loved him.

Anybody could see that Naruto was probably Sasuke’s favorite person, so ‘not horrible’ was most likely his awkward way of telling her that he liked her company.

Still, did that mean she wanted to go on a date with him? She was stepping down as his doctor now that the problem with his eyes was fixed apart from a few follow up appointments, so there was no longer a conflict of interest. It was a bit weird that she used to date Naruto, true, but he didn’t seem overly upset over their breakup and wasn’t the jealous type, if him trying to force Sakura on Sasuke was any indication.

Plus, Hinata really did enjoy Sasuke’s company. He was quiet and didn’t make her feel on edge or insecure, possibly due to their relationship starting out as a purely professional one. Not to mention the fact that if she finally went on a date with somebody, Hanabi would probably stop giving her judgemental lectures on her love life. She couldn’t help but remember the humiliating comment about how everyone apparently thought she was still pathetically pining over somebody who was busy being in love with somebody else.

“Okay, Sasuke-san. If it’s a real d-date, t-then sure,” she said, aware that her cheeks were heating and annoyed by the stutter, but, well, she was a little off balance.

He stared at her for a few long moments, probably shocked that his awkward request for a date had been granted. They sat in silence, Hinata staring down at her hands, and Sasuke studying the wall.

“I have a mission tomorrow,” he said abruptly, and she jumped in surprise and looked up at him. His eyes were on her again, and her heart fluttered a little with nerves.

“I should be back on Thursday evening, it’s a short escort to our borders. I’ll pick you up at seven on Friday.”

“I - yes, that works for me,” she said, a little flustered when he stood abruptly. Sasuke just gave a curt nod.

“Okay, um. I look forward to it,” she said a little shyly, and he grunted, but when she looked up he quirked his lip up at her before opening the door and disappearing through it.

Hinata buried her face in her hands as the situation finally hit her. _What have I gotten myself into?_ She took a few deep breaths before standing.

She needed to make sure the transfer paperwork for Sasuke’s new general physician went through before their date. For a moment, she wanted to laugh when she imagined Shizune’s reaction to the news.

000

“Come on, just tell me who she is,” Naruto whispered harshly from where he was sitting next to Sasuke in a tree.

Sakura was talking quietly with Sai and their client down by the fire, and Sasuke had retreated into the tree to take a break from Naruto’s meaningful looks and what he probably assumed were subtle questions. Of course, he had just followed him onto the branch.

Sakura was so used to their weird dynamic that she hadn’t become suspicious yet, but she would soon if Naruto didn’t stop. He’d curtly told him when he’d appeared at Sasuke’s door to walk with him to the gates before their mission (as though Sasuke didn’t know Naruto had gone fifteen minutes out of his way to do so) that he’d asked the mystery girl out and she’d said yes.

Then he’d refused to say anything else about it. Mostly because he was aware that once who the last Uchiha had taken an interest in got out, there’d be a whole lot of bullshit that he didn’t want to deal with. Naruto would probably not be bothered by the fact that he used to date Hinata (had in fact been engaged to her for a short time). He wasn’t the type to go all caveman, really, outside of his apparent need to make Sasuke’s dating decisions for him, but it would still probably be uncomfortable for Naruto. Sakura would be...well, the less said about that, the better.

Then there was everybody else. Once he’d started paying attention to Hinata and what others said about her the past few months, he had noticed that her and Naruto’s breakup was still a hot topic. Not surprising, since it had to do with the love life of the future Hokage.

Most people didn’t know why they’d split (even Sasuke didn’t know the details), only that it was Naruto’s decision, and that Hinata had been devastated. No doubt her dating Naruto’s best friend would get them all talking again. the thought made him uncomfortable, though not for his own sake. What if people were cruel to Hinata?

There was also the worry that Naruto would try to stick his nose into this...whatever it was with Hinata and turn it into a circus. One of the things that drew him to her was how little theatrics or drama she brought with her. So, he would remain silent on it for now - after Friday it would be out anyway.

“No,” Sasuke said, and Naruto groaned dramatically, making their client twitch nervously and look up into the tree they were hidden in.

“I don’t get why it’s such a secret,” he grumbled and Sasuke gritted his teeth.

“Because it’s my business, and I don’t need you barging in and ruining it,” he snapped.

Naruto gaped at him for a moment, and then a huge, annoying grin broke out over his face. “Oh, you really like this girl, huh, Sasuke?” He elbowed him in the side. Sasuke huffed but didn’t answer.

Mostly because he wasn’t sure how. _Did_ he like her? He found her attractive, and liked to be around her, but dating was new to him.

The closest he’d ever come to having a girlfriend was one of Orochimaru’s subordinates, who had been a year older than Sasuke and much more experienced than him. That had been all physical, though. In the end, she’d tried to kill him, just like almost everybody else in that shithole.

She’d failed, and he had thrashed her so thoroughly that she avoided him as much as possible until one of Kabuto’s experiments went wrong and she died. He mentally shied away from the unpleasant memory of the first and only woman he’d ever slept with and brought his attention back to Naruto.

“I just don’t want to deal with your crap,” he said, but it was half-hearted, and judging from Naruto’s expression, he knew it.

After a moment, Naruto’s teasing grin faded, and he looked down at Sakura with a mixture of longing and sadness. “Are you sure -” 

“Yes,” Sasuke said, and even Naruto didn’t quite dare to push after the tone he used. Sasuke was getting tired of that conversation - he ’d been tired of it for months.

“Well, you’ll have to tell me how it goes,” Naruto said, back to being cheerful. Before Sasuke could answer, Sakura’s voice cut them off.

“Hey! If you think Sai and I are going to do all the work, you’d better think again!” she yelled, voice annoyed.

They glanced at each other, and without having to say anything, both jumped out of the tree to help Sakura make dinner before she really lost her temper.

000

Hinata checked her appearance one more time in the mirror. She’d decided to keep her outfit relatively casual. Well, as casual as she could get away with for a date between the heirs of the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans.

Her father was going to be so angry when he heard. Instead of making her cringe in fear like it would have a few short years ago, the thought made Hinata smile just a bit.

Her relationship with her father had come a long way, and she’d realized that usually his disapproval stemmed from worry. After that, it was difficult to be so afraid of him - not to mention that she’d faced much scarier things than him in the war.

She was wearing a dark blue yukata with a lighter blue obi. Half of her hair was pulled back and held in place with grey hair sticks made of glass, with two long tendrils left loose to frame her face.

She’d put on just a bit of makeup around her eyes and on her lips. She was saved from fussing over her appearance more when one of her second cousins appeared at the door. She took in Hinata with one raised eyebrow.

“Hinata-sama, Uchiha Sasuke is at the gates. He said you had plans?”

Hinata cleared her throat. “That’s right, Yuki-san. Thank you, I’ll go see him right away.” She swept past her cousin before she could ask any questions, relieved that her sister and father were both out at the moment so they couldn’t appear and make things awkward.

Hinata put on her shoes and made her way to the front gate as quickly as she could without needing to worry about somebody reporting her for being unseemly to her father. Finally, she was there, exchanging small bows with the guards.

Sasuke was standing with his back to her, hands clasped behind him and studying a small green tree by the entrance.

“I planted that a few years ago,” she admitted, and he turned around, not looking surprised that she was standing there.

He probably wasn’t. Hinata felt her cheeks heat a little when she took in the dark shirt and pants he was wearing. He was very handsome, now that she let herself think about it.

“You look nice,” he said, and she tilted her head and smiled.

“You do, too.”

After a moment of hesitation, he walked over to her and held out his arm. Relieved at the familiar motion, she settled her hand into the crook of his elbow and fell into step with him.

“Your mission went well?” she asked, and he hummed, eyes darting to her.

“No trouble. I didn’t even have to activate the Sharingan,” he said a little wryly.

“Oh, that - that’s good.”

“What have you been doing the last few days?” he asked after another long silence.

She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at the stilted question - it reminded her of his first attempts at small talk before they’d become accustomed to each other. “Oh, I took on a new patient. He was injured when he fell into water from a great height - his eyes were open.”

Sasuke made an interested sound and she took that as encouragement to tell him what she could about the case without violating the patient’s privacy.

“So you think you can heal him?”

“Yes, it will take a few sessions, but I believe so,” she replied as they turned onto a busy street.

“That’s impressive,” he said, and she felt herself blush, pleased at his praise.

“It - it’s nothing -” she started to say, but he cut her off.

“As somebody who had also been facing blindness, I can attest to the fact that it’s not nothing. Don’t sell yourself short.” He said the last sentence a little harshly, and she flinched, then looked at her feet.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Hinata wishing that she’d never agreed to go on the date, and she only looked up when Sasuke stopped in front of a restaurant. It was a fairly upscale sushi place, and some of her hurt feelings faded when she realized he’d remembered her favorite food.

She leaned forward to get the door, but he cleared his throat, causing her to pause and look at him. His eyes were focused on something off to the side, and he looked extremely uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking like he was having difficulty forming the words, as though unused to them. “I didn’t mean to sound so - harsh. I just.” Hinata thought the slightly constipated expression that he wore when trying to apologize was adorable. “I just don’t like hearing you put yourself down,” he finally said, and his cheeks turned just the tiniest bit pink.

Hinata stared at him until her manners caught up with her. “Oh! No, it’s fine. R-really, Sasuke-san. I understand.”

He looked so relieved that she had to fight another smile, and she let go of his arm as he reached out to hold the door open for her. She stepped inside, giving him a small smile when she passed, which he returned with the slightest crinkle at the corner of his eyes.

“I have reservations,” Sasuke said coldly to the maître d’, who was taking him in with appreciative eyes. “Uchiha.”

“O-oh!” the girl said, blushing a bright red and finally noticing Hinata at his side. “Right away, Uchiha-sama, please follow me. We have a table in the back.”

He ignored the girl’s fumbling attempts at conversation while she led them through the restaurant and Hinata, feeling sorry for her, answered the questions for him. By the time they were seated, the girl was more at ease and was smiling at Hinata instead of entirely dismissing her presence in favor of staring at her date. Hinata couldn’t blame her for her initial reaction - Sasuke did cut a very striking figure.

Once she left, Hinata realized Sasuke was studying her. Before she could ask, he spoke. “Why did you do that?”

“Do what?” she asked, brow furrowing, and he sighed.

“You don’t even realize you’re doing it,” he grumbled. “Why were you so nice to that girl after she was rude to you?”

Hinata blinked at him. “She wasn’t rude to me.”

“She ignored you and checked out your date,” he drawled.

Hinata smiled and shook her head. “She was just dazzled by you, it’s not her fault,” she teased lightly, and he snorted.

After that, some of the awkwardness faded, and they fell into a conversation about Hinata’s new vegetable garden after the waiter had been by to take their orders.

Hinata couldn’t help but appreciate how easy the whole thing felt. With Naruto, she’d always been so nervous, worried about what he was thinking or whether she was good enough or feeling just completely overwhelmed by him.

Sasuke was like a cool lake next to Naruto’s bright sun. Hinata found herself relaxing into the conversation, to the point where she’d offered to help him go out and buy supplies for a vegetable garden of his own the next day at the market without thinking.

He smirked and leaned forward just as she popped a bite of sushi into her mouth. “Trying to get a second date already, Hyuuga?” he deadpanned, and she choked on her food.

Sasuke immediately stood and crossed to her side, and she waved him away as she covered her mouth with a napkin while she coughed.

He went back to his seat, brow furrowed as she gulped down her water. Under her embarrassment, she felt warmth at his obvious concern.

“You’re alright?” he said as she finally leaned back.

“Yes,” she said, voice a little scratchy. “I’m fine, sorry.”

“I’m sorry I teased you while you were eating,” he said, and she tilted her head to the side.

“Two apologies in one night? I think that might be a record,” she said.

“Don’t get used to it,” he grumbled but didn’t look upset.

They left shortly after, Sasuke paying the check without looking at the price before guiding her out of the restaurant with a hand on her back.

“Would you like to walk through the park?” he asked, sounding almost hesitant.

Hinata smiled up at him. It would add half an hour to their walk back to her house, but the early spring evening was pleasant, and she found herself wanting to draw the night out.

“Yes, please,” she said and took his arm when he offered it to her.

They strolled, neither breaking the comfortable silence. Hinata noticed they were getting a few interested looks, but she didn’t see anybody she knew well, so they weren’t interrupted. No doubt it would make the rumor mills tomorrow.

“Do you really want to go with me tomorrow?” Sasuke finally said after they’d been walking for about fifteen minutes.

Hinata pulled her eyes from a flowering bush that she’d been admiring to look at her companion. He wasn’t looking at her, which she thought might be a habit when he was feeling uncomfortable.

“I do,” she said simply, and her breath caught when he smiled.

It was just a small thing, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever really seen him smile before.

“Eight am?”

“Yes,” Hinata said, suddenly feeling a little breathless. He looked away again, clearing his throat, and she turned her attention back to the scenery and tried to will her heartbeat to slow. So this was what moving on felt like.


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke watched Hinata as she gently placed the tomato plant that they had picked out together that morning into the corner of the raised flower bed. Her movements were sure and gentle, and he found himself mesmerized by her.

Though he’d originally asked her out as a way to get Naruto off his back, it didn’t take long for him to realize that he had feelings for her. He couldn’t help but feel a stab of sympathy for Sakura and Naruto. It was painful enough going through this when the object of his affections seemed to at least somewhat return them. What would it be like if she had rejected him?

Hinata looked over at him and smiled. They’d had a pleasant morning strolling through the market, ignoring the double takes they got when Sasuke put a hand to her lower back or when she smiled brightly up at him when he’d asked her to pick out the plants for the garden.

He’d bought her tea and pastries, and she’d shyly thanked him, hair falling forward when she ducked her head to hide a blush. He had found it adorable, and hadn’t even tried to hide his feelings from the rest of the world.

He fully expected Naruto to come barging into his apartment that evening when the rumor mill reached him. The thought made him nervous - he had mostly convinced himself Naruto wouldn’t care that he was dating Hinata, especially since he’d been so focused on setting Sasuke up with the girl he was _actually_ in love with.

Now, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d just been fooling himself. He needed to know what had happened between his friend and Hinata, and had a feeling Naruto would just avoid the question if he asked him again, as he always did.

“Hinata,” he said, and she glanced over at him in question. She had taken off her jacket so that it wouldn’t get dirty, and was wearing a semi-loose t-shirt and black pants. She had also pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and small wisps had come out and plastered themselves to her slightly sweaty forehead.

“What happened with you and Naruto?”

Her hands stilled and her eyes widened, obviously not having expected that question. “I - I’m not -”

“I want to know if I need to worry about him deciding he...wants you back, or something,” he grumbled.

To both of their surprise, she let out a small snort, then immediately blushed bright red at the un-Hyuuga-like reaction.

“I - I don’t think you need to worry about that, Sasuke-san,” she explained.

She turned her attention back to the plant, patting dirt down around it, face thoughtful. Sasuke waited patiently, deciding that if she didn’t want to talk he wouldn’t push it. Finally, she spoke.

“We had been engaged for a week,” she said in a small, pained voice. “I had just finished moving into the house he bought for us. I suppose...a part of me always knew that he didn’t feel as strongly for me as I did for him.”

She stopped there and swallowed. She had leaned back to sit on her heels, and her eyes were staring into the distance.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, I’ve never told anybody this before.”

“It’s okay,” he said, voice gruff. “You don’t have to.”

Hinata shook her head, suddenly looking determined and turning to face him, gracefully bringing her feet forward so that she was sitting cross-legged on the grass.

“No, I think that if we’re going to keep seeing each other, there shouldn’t be any secrets, at least not if we can help it,” she said firmly, then took a deep breath.

“I had left for the morning, and Naruto was still getting ready. I remembered that I needed to water the flowers I’d just planted, so I went into the backyard instead of heading straight for work. Naruto...he must have thought I was gone.

“The doorbell rang. It was Sakura-san, and she was...she was really upset. The window was open, and I could hear them talking in the living room. I guess she’d just asked you out, and you had said no. Naruto was trying to comfort her, but she was, well.” Hinata hesitated and looked down at the ground, fingers playing with the grass there, face twisted in pain.

“She kept saying that she didn’t know why you didn’t love her, why she wasn’t worth loving.” Sasuke winced, guilt and annoyance filling him equally. Why was he suddenly responsible for Sakura’s self esteem?

“Naruto he - he got really upset. He started ranting at her, telling her how amazing she was. How beautiful and perfect and lovable.” Her breath hitched. “She asked why nobody loved her if that was the case, and Naruto said...he told her that it wasn’t true, and that _he_ loved her.”

Hinata shifted uncomfortably, and Sasuke was suddenly furious with Naruto. Why had he gotten engaged to Hinata, moved in with her, if he was still in love with Sakura?

“I - I’m not proud of it, but I activated my Byakugan so I could see what was happening. Sakura...she tried to k-kiss Naruto after he said that. He didn’t let her, and I thought - I thought maybe he hadn’t meant it that way. But then,” Sasuke had to breath past the urge to go out and kill his teammates when a small tear escaped the corner of Hinata’s eye. “Then he said that they couldn’t do that until he’d broken up with me, that it wasn’t right.”

They were both quiet as Sasuke absorbed that. He had to remind himself that Naruto wasn't a bad person. Had, in fact, done the right thing by not taking that step with Sakura and deciding to come clean to Hinata. She gave a little shrug.

“I don’t remember much of the rest of the day, to be honest. I guess I was kind of in shock. I...I just dropped the watering can, and went inside. Naruto realized right away that I’d heard them, but I ignored what he was saying. I went upstairs and packed a bag and - and put my ring on the bedside table. He looked so sad and lost, and later I kept thinking he’d come and explain and apologize and try to get me back...”

She shook her head, face rueful. “He did come and apologize, but he did not try to get me back. He just said...that he didn’t love me the way he should, and he was sorry he hurt me. I guess he thought that he could forget about Sakura, but...but he couldn’t. I think I was always his second choice...since he thought he couldn’t have her...”

She drifted off. Her face was turned down and to the side, and while she hadn’t cried past that one tear, Sasuke could see she was still hurt and confused.

“They didn’t even end up dating after that, probably because of her feelings for you,” she finished in a quiet voice.

“Hinata,” he said, voice surprisingly steady.

She didn’t look at him, only made a small sound of acknowledgment.

“Hinata,” he said, more firmly this time.

When she still didn’t move, he sighed and leaned forward, tipping her chin up and towards him so that she was looking at his face.

“Naruto’s an idiot,” he said bluntly, and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, probably to protest, but he talked over her. “You’re amazing. Don’t let one moron convince you otherwise.”

She turned bright red. “S-Sasuke-san!” she squeaked, obviously flustered, and he lowered his hand to his side.

“Just call me Sasuke,” he said, ignoring his own heating cheeks, and turned back to gardening.

Soon she did the same, but he didn’t miss the small pleased smile she tried to hide.

He walked her home an hour later, both of them lost in their own thoughts. When they reached the gates of her family’s compound, he hesitated, unsure if he should ask to see her again after their conversation earlier that day. Did she need space? Or would it be better to -

“Sasuke,” her voice cut into his thoughts, and he focused back in on her, taking in the way she was twisting her fingers nervously. “There’s a fundraising ball for the hospital on Wednesday evening. Would you...like to come with me?”

Sasuke smirked, confidence returning.

“You mean as your date?” he asked, and his smirk deepened when she sent him a chiding look, congratulating himself when she stopped fidgeting, nervousness mostly forgotten in favor of exasperation.

“Y-yes,” she said.

“Alright,” he said with a shrug, though the frantic beating of his heart belied his casual demeanor. “What time should I pick you up?”

“U-um, seven-thirty. It’s black tie...”

Sasuke nodded. He should be able to get something by then.

“Alright. I’ll see you then.”

Hinata smiled at him, and his chest was doing that annoying thing where it tightened and made him feel a little short of breath.

“Okay. Thank you for today, Sasuke. I had fun.”

Then, moving quickly as though afraid of losing her nerve, she darted in and pressed her lips to his cheek. A moment later, she was gone, disappearing through the gates.

Sasuke ignored the suspicious look the guard was giving him and forced his body into motion, turning on his heel and walking away, barely resisting the urge to bring his fingers up to the spot on his cheek where her soft lips had brushed against it. For the first time he could remember since he was a child he was truly, incandescently happy.

Naruto was sitting on his couch when he got home, and his good mood immediately drained when he saw the look on his face.

“You bastard!” he yelled, and Sasuke barely ducked out of the way of his wild punch. “Why did it have to be her? Why do you have to take _everybody.”_

Sasuke met his anger with his own as he remembered the lone tear that had made a trail down Hinata’s face that day.

“What business is it of yours who she dates? You ‘don’t love her the right way,’ remember?”

He wasn’t quite quick enough to dodge Naruto’s punch this time. Even as pain erupted across his eye, he dove at Naruto. They rolled around on the ground, the blonde yelling incoherently at him as they knocked over furniture and punched and scratched at each other, not trying to do true damage but not being gentle either.

“Why can’t you ever just do what other people want you to!” Naruto yelled down at him after flipping them so Sasuke’s back hit the floor with a loud _thud._ He grabbed Sasuke’s shoulders and shook him a little.

“Because it’s not your decision who I love!” He finally yelled back at him, before flopping back, anger draining out of him just as quickly as it had come.

“My whole life, people have looked at me and only seen something they wanted. My father wanted a perfect second son. My brother wanted redemption. Orochimaru wanted a vessel, and Obito and Konoha wanted a pawn.”

Naruto had leaned back, and was looking unsure now that Sasuke wasn’t fighting back. “You were supposed to be different. You never gave up on me, you gave me a home. I thought you _were_ different, but I was wrong. You and Sakura are just like everybody else - you don’t see Sasuke when you look at me, you just see something you want.”

“Sasuke...” Naruto said, eyes wide and pleading, and he looked to the side, unwilling to be drawn in to easy forgiveness again.

“I didn’t even realize it until I met her. She looks at me like I’m just another person. She doesn’t have any expectations. She’s just...there, because she likes to be around me.”

“Hinata,” Naruto breathed.

“Yes,” Sasuke spat. “Naruto, whatever fucked up shit is happening between you and Sakura, I’m done with it. Until you two can stop treating me like your _possession,”_ Naruto winced, and looked like he wanted to argue but wasn’t sure how, “I don’t want to see you outside of missions.”

“Sasuke,” Naruto said, face crumpling.

“Go, Naruto,” he said.

For a moment, he thought he wasn’t going to listen, and it would just be more proof that Naruto didn’t care what Sasuke wanted.

“Okay, Sasuke. Okay.” Sasuke stayed on the floor for a long time after the door closed behind Naruto, before finally sitting up and shuffling into his kitchen to put ice on his black eye.

He was still sitting at the table when Sakura showed up. Her eyes were red and bright, and he sighed, pressing the bag of peas more firmly against his face.

“I guess Naruto didn’t give you the message,” he said, voice and face expressionless, lips numb. “I don’t want to see you outside of missions. I’m tired of being treated like something you have a right to.”

“Sasuke,” Sakura said, voice shaking. “That’s not how I -”

He scoffed. “Please. Tell me you’re not here to convince me to ‘give you a chance.’”

She looked down, lips pressed together and eyes shimmering with tears, and didn’t respond, which was answer enough. He let out a humorless laugh, suddenly enraged again at the way she’d completely ignored his words.

“Still pathetic, I see,” he spat, tired of trying to spare her feelings, and she flinched. He stood and put his hands on the table, peas cold against his palm as he leaned forward.

“Sakura. I don’t love you. I will _never_ love you. Grow up.”

Sakura sobbed, then spun on her heels and ran out of the apartment. The slamming of the door felt horribly final, and he slowly sat back down, wondering how he had gone from being so happy earlier in the day to feeling like his whole world had just crumbled around him.

He didn’t sleep that night, instead pacing restlessly until he gave up and headed to one of the training rooms. The sun was peeking through one of the high windows by the time Sasuke collapsed onto a bench, sweaty and feeling marginally better.

“Yo,” Sasuke jumped, then turned and glared at Kakashi, who was standing next to him, hands in his pockets and Hokage robes and hat nowhere in sight.

He grunted in acknowledgement, already knowing why he was there and giving into the inevitable conversation. At least he knew this one wouldn’t be emotional, not with Kakashi leading it.

“So,” the man said after a few minutes of silence, drawing out the word as he sat down next to Sasuke.

“So,” he said back to him. Kakashi sighed.

“Naruto and Sakura came over last night. They told me what happened, and that you told them you didn’t want to be their friend anymore.” He said the last part wryly, and Sasuke rolled his eyes at their dramatics.

“...I said I didn’t want to talk to them until they stop...” he trailed off, a little embarrassed at his own dramatics.

“Until they stop treating you like a possession, yes, they told me,” Kakashi said, nodding amiably.

“...You never treat me that way,” Sasuke finally grumbled, looking away.

If Naruto told him everything he said, it probably sounded like he thought everybody but Hinata was trying to use him. Kakashi, outside of when he had to treat Sasuke as just another shinobi due to his position of Hokage, never did that.

Kakashi cleared his throat, evidently feeling that this was getting too close to icky emotional territory.

“It’s enough just seeing how well you’re doing,” he said a little gruffly. Before Sasuke could do more than feel a little warm and fuzzy, Kakashi clapped his hands together once.

“So, to recap, Naruto and Sakura were trying to strong arm you into falling in love with Sakura, and instead you ended up dating Naruto’s ex-fiancé, which culminated in Naruto giving you a black eye, you breaking up with the two of them, and them crying on my couch until two in the morning and you destroying one of my training rooms.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Here to tell me I should give them another chance?”

Kakashi shook his head. “No, you were right, they weren’t acting like a team. It’s up to you when and if you decide to speak to them again outside of missions. Though...Hinata? Really?”

Sasuke bristled. “It’s not my fault dead last messed up.”

Kakashi sighed. “You couldn’t have talked to him about it first?”

“And what? Gotten his _permission_ to date her? That would make me a hypocrite, don’t you think?”

Kakashi tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement. “Well, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to place you on a different team for awhile.”

Sasuke sat up, alarmed. Yes, he was pissed off with them, but he didn’t want them to not be his teammates. “That’s not -”

Kakashi held up a hand. “No, I realize that I did you all a disservice. You need time to grow into your own roles, make your own way in the world without the pressure of trying to please your childhood team. I’m going to put together some options for you to choose from. I also want Naruto to stick closer to me, start learning the ropes, and send him on more diplomatic missions with Shikamaru so they get used to working closely together.

“I’m putting Sakura in charge of the Medical Corps. Sai is going to join my personal bodyguard team. You _all_ need the chance to grow outside of Team Seven,” he said a little wistfully. “I’ll probably still send you out on joint missions when we need to make a show of power, or in high-danger situations.”

Sasuke was silent as he took that in. He swallowed thickly and looked down at his feet.

“This doesn’t mean you can’t still be friends,” Kakashi said, shifting uncomfortably. “If or when you’re ready, you can try to talk it out.”

Sasuke nodded once, remembering the harsh words he’d spoken to Sakura, and his disregard for Naruto’s feelings when he started dating Hinata. Maybe they wouldn’t care enough to want to make up with him. They weren’t the only ones who had screwed up. If he had just told them earlier how their heavy-handedness was making him feel, maybe it would never have gotten to this point.

“You know,” Kakashi chirped, “it’s been awhile since I sparred. What do you say?”

Sasuke immediately felt his mood lift, and he smirked at his sensei. “I don’t know, think you can keep up, old man?” Kakashi made a wounded noise, and then Sasuke was diving out of the way to avoid a hail of kunai.

Thirty minutes later, they were both leaning up against the wall, breathing heavily and taking in the damage around them, when a woman’s voice pierced the air.

“Hokage-sama! There you are!” Shizune said, stopping at the doorway to gape at the destruction before pursing her lips together in disapproval. Kakashi froze like a rabbit in a predator’s gaze as the woman’s eyes landed on him. “You missed the hospital budget meeting so that you could _tear apart the training hall?”_

“Maa, maa, Shizune, it wasn’t like that. My cute little student was having a crisis...” his voice tapered off as she stomped over to them and stopped a few feet away, hands on her hips and foot tapping impatiently.

“Save it,” she snapped. She then turned to Sasuke, and frowned when she caught sight of his eye.

“You shouldn’t be so rough with your students,” she grumbled, then knelt down in front of Sasuke, ignoring the way he leaned away from her to press into the wall behind him.

Then her hand was hovering over his black eye, and he let out a breath of relief as he felt the swelling go down. This way he wouldn’t show up to Hinata’s house with a swollen face, at least. Though he supposed the woman could have just healed him herself.

“There. Come on Hokage-sama,” she said, and Kakashi sighed but stood, putting his hands in his pockets and shuffling after her, shoulders slumped in defeat.

000

When Sasuke showed up to the Hyuuga compound five minutes early on Wednesday, he was escorted inside by the guard.

“Hiashi-sama wishes to speak with you,” the man said in a clipped tone, and Sasuke resisted the urge to sigh. He had wondered when the man would request his presence.

He was shown into a long, wooden room, and led to a low table in the middle where Hyuuga Hiashi was sitting in seiza, sipping tea. The attendant left without a word, sliding the door closed behind him, and Sasuke felt annoyance flare at the obvious intimidation tactics.

He forced himself to remain calm as he walked across the floor and knelt down across from Hiashi, inclining his head when he asked if Sasuke wanted a cup of tea. After another nameless Hyuuga had brought him a cup and he hummed his approval after taking a sip, Hiashi spoke.

“I will not beat around the bush, Sasuke-san,” he said, setting his cup firmly on the table. “I would like to know what your intentions are towards my daughter.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and deliberately lowered his cup, reminding himself that losing his temper with Hinata’s father would be a bad idea if he wanted something long term with her. Which he did.

“I care for Hinata. I want to be with her,” he said just as bluntly.

Hiashi studied him with eyes that were identical to Hinata’s but missing the warmth that the woman’s usually held.

“If this is some game your team is playing -” the man started, and Sasuke cut a hand through the air.

“No,” he said in a flat voice. “Neither myself nor Naruto would do something like that. I assure you, this has nothing to do with my team.”

Hiashi hummed. “Be sure you do not disappoint her as Uzumaki did,” he finally said, then looked away in clear dismissal.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, but only nodded tersely before standing.

“Hyuuga-sama,” he said, and forced himself to bow.

When Sasuke left the room, he was brought up short by what was waiting for him on the other side. Hinata was standing in the hall, wringing her hands, face a mask of worry.

She was wearing a steel grey, floor-length gown made of a shimmery fabric that clung to her tastefully and made her pale skin almost glow in contrast. Two spaghetti straps held the dress up, and her hair was pulled up into a simple twist that exposed her long, pale neck.

“Sasuke! I’m so sorry, the guard at the gate that was there on Saturday told Father about our conversation, and he insisted on talking to you before our date,” she said, voice soft so as not to carry. “Was he awful?”

Sasuke shook his head once, but didn’t respond, struck mute. Her eyes lowered to take in his suit, then darted back up to his face. Her cheeks turned a pretty red, and he cleared his throat.

“You look beautiful,” he finally said.

“O-oh! You look good, too,” They stood in the hallway for another thirty seconds before Sasuke held out an arm.

“Should we...?”

“Oh! Yes,” she said, and he admired the way she moved to his side, movements graceful and elegant.

“I like the color of your dress,” he said once they had left the compound. Hinata blushed again.

“You said it was your favorite color,” she finally said, and he found himself smiling at her, the same happiness that he’d felt on Saturday coming back to him.

It remained for the rest of the walk, and throughout the night. Sakura and Naruto never showed up, like he half expected them to, and he was incredibly relieved to avoid the guilt he probably would have felt if he’d had to face either of them.

They had enough scrutiny from the people around them without worrying about those two. Hinata stayed next to him all night, and he had to admire the way she navigated conversations around hospital funding and projects. They didn’t dance - Sasuke had never been taught, as he was so young when his family died, and Hinata didn’t seem interested.

Afterwards, Sasuke asked her if she wanted to walk in one of the parks nearby, and she inclined her head in agreement. When she shivered a little in the cool night air, he pulled off his coat and settled it over her shoulders.

She turned a bright smile at him, and he stopped, pulling her to face him. “Hinata,” he said in a low tone. “Can I kiss you?”

Her eyes were wide and luminescent in the moonlight, and for a moment she just met his gaze, face open and curious. Finally, she nodded once, almost bashfully.

Relief flooded his system even as he leaned forward and pushed his lips against hers. They were soft, and her lipstick made them slick against his own.

He brought one hand to her cheek and tilted her head to the side, the other wrapping around her waist under his jacket to pull her close. She wasn’t hesitant as he thought she might be. Instead, she opened her mouth and pressed against him, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck.

Sasuke flicked his tongue into her mouth, and she sighed, body going pliant against his. They kissed for long moments, and when he pulled back and opened his eyes, he drank in the sight of her red cheeks and swollen lips. She stared back, and after a moment she giggled.

He raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what could be funny about the way he kissed. She slid one of her hands across his shoulder and traced it lightly up his neck and then cupped his cheek. Her thumb moved forward and swiped around his mouth.

“Lipstick,” she whispered furtively, as though it was a secret, and he smiled at her.

She returned it, and he suddenly couldn’t stand the thought of dropping her off at the Hyuuga compound and watching her walk away.

“Come home with me,” he whispered, then winced when her eyes widened. “I mean - I didn’t mean. I just. Don’t want to leave you,” he finished a little lamely, wishing that all of the rumors about him being a lady killer were actually true.

Hinata covered her laugh with the hand that had just wiped the lipstick from his face, and his eyes caught on the pink smear on the pad of her thumb, mesmerized.

“Okay,” she said, and his eyes went from her thumb to meet her gaze, his own wide with the disbelief he was feeling.

“I - okay,” he stammered. Hinata stepped back and to the side, and tucked her arm into his.

“I don’t know where your apartment is,” she said after a moment where he remained standing in place, still in shock and now starting to feel nervous about what he was supposed to do with her once they got there.

He jolted, because - right. He’d only taken her to his parents’ old house to plant vegetables in his mother’s garden. He had vague plans to move back there, but had hated the thought of living there alone like he had when he was a kid, just another spirit wandering the empty streets. Sometimes he wished it had been destroyed along with most of the rest of the village when Pein attacked.

“It’s this way,” he said, and barely kept from stumbling over his own feet when she smiled.

000

Sasuke stood in his doorway, drinking in the sight of Hinata curled up on one side of the bed, the pale skin of her shoulder and the curve of her cheek visible from where he was standing, her long dark hair spread around her.

The night before had been...amazing. A little awkward, but neither of them were virgins (and yes, he had to keep his brain from following the logical end to the who for Hinata. Better to never go there), just out of practice, so they’d found their rhythm reasonably quickly.

The sex he’d had with the girl in Sound wasn’t even on the same plane as what he’d felt last night. Hinata was beautiful, all soft skin and lush curves. Her soft exhales and small whimpers had been some of the sexiest things he’d ever heard, and part of him wanted to wake her up just to get her to make those noises again.

It was more than just the fact that Hinata was gorgeous. It was the way she looked at him, like she _knew_ him, every part of him, and still wanted to be there. It was the fond half-smile she’d had on her face as he had slowly taken the pins out of her hair so that it fell down her back. When Sasuke had finally pushed into her, he’d thought _this is it, I don’t want anybody else._

Sasuke had wanted to stay with her that morning, lay close and breath in her sweet scent as she slept, but he’d had something he needed to do. He’d done it as quickly as possible and was relieved to see she hadn’t woken up to him gone.

Sasuke hadn’t considered that possibility until he was already at his destination, and the thought had sent him into such a panic that he’d raced home as quickly as he could, and was now breathing heavily.

He was pretty sure Kakashi would be getting a complaint from the merchant whose tofu cart he accidentally knocked over. Oh, well, if they were able to connect his blurred form to the scene, he’d pay for the damages. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money.

Hinata stirred and rolled over, and he watched as her face scrunched up (cute) before her eyes opened.

When she gave him a small, unsure smile, he Strode across the room before he was even aware that he was moving. He sat down on the bed and reached out to run a hand through her hair.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi,” he said back, and his lip quirked up a bit when her smile became more confident.

“You’re up,” she said slowly, taking in his fully dressed form.

“Yes,” he said, then hesitated before saying, “I got you something.”

She sat up, holding the sheet to her chest before it could fall, and cocked her head to the side. “You did?”

“Aa.” he tapped his fingers on the bed, palms suddenly sweaty with nerves. “I know that we haven’t...that we’ve only been on a few dates,” he said, voice a little stilted. “But I.”

He stopped, unsure how to go on. Hinata leaned forward, a cute little line forming between her brows as she frowned. Her hand was cool when it covered his.

“Sasuke, are you okay?”

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I know this is fast, but I don’t want anybody else. I _won’t_ want anybody else. You - you’re perfect. So I brought you - it was my mother’s,” he said, voice stilted, and pulled a box from his pocket. He set it on the bed and stood abruptly.

“You don’t have to accept it. Obviously. But if you don’t...maybe you can think about it and. Later. I just want you to know that whenever you want it, it’s yours. _If_ you want it.”

Annoyed with his inability to string a sentence together, he escaped the room and entered the kitchen, putting his hands on the counter and leaning over it, taking deep calming breaths.

Naruto was never going to let this go if he ever found out how awkward Sasuke was. Sasuke closed his eyes at the thought of his best friend and forced himself to stand and turn towards the fridge.

Breakfast. He would make her breakfast. That was what you did when you wanted a woman to know you were still interested after a night of amazing sex, wasn’t it? Of course, the object in the box he’d practically tossed at her would probably clue her in.

He was whisking eggs with a little too much force when a scuffing noise grabbed his attention. He turned his head, and fumbled the bowl he was holding in one hand when he saw Hinata standing there in one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers, hair still down and messy, makeup slightly smudged and an adorable mark on her face from the pillow. He cursed when egg splashed up on his shirt, looking down at the stain in disbelief.

A giggle pulled his attention back to Hinata, who had ducked her head and brought a hand up to try and hide her mirth. Her left hand. Which had a large, familiar diamond and emerald ring on one of its fingers. He dropped the bowl, ignoring the way it clattered and clanged across the floor, sending raw eggs across the linoleum.

“You-you're wearing it,” he said.

She jolted, suddenly looking guilty, and brought the hand with the ring to her chest, covering it with the opposite hand.

“I - I’m sorry. I thought you wanted me to -”

“I do,” he said, voice surprisingly steady as he stared at where the ring had disappeared under her palm.

He stepped forward, ignoring the egg seeping into his socks, until he was standing in front of her. “Does this mean -”

Hinata met his eyes and bit her lip. “It does,” she said, voice soft. “I - I need you to be sure, though,” she said a little unsteadily. “Do you - do you love me?”

“I do,” he said again, holding her gaze.

“And only me?”

“Yes,” he breathed. Hinata took a shaky breath.

“Okay. Me too,” she said.

Sasuke didn’t respond. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her.

000

Sasuke’s new team was Rock Lee and Tenten. They were a multi-purpose heavy hitter team, one that was supposed to be loud, dramatic, and impressive. An up in your face reminder that Konoha had no shortage of strong, legendary ninja.

Rock Lee was a little overwhelming, but Sasuke was well practiced in working with overzealous idiots with more strength than sense.

Tenten’s pragmatism and calm demeanor more than balanced Lee, and after a few weeks of practicing together, they found themselves working well as a team. It wasn’t Team Seven - it could never be Team Seven - but it was still good.

Lee was, of course, their close range fighter, and Tenten their long range with her multitude of weapons. Sasuke was their ninjutsu specialist and worked best from mid to close range.

They were finishing up their practice session for the day, their last one before they left on their first mission together tomorrow.

“Yosh! With the three of us working together, there is no way we won’t succeed in our endeavors!”

Sasuke ignored Lee’s yelling and exchanged nods with Tenten as he moved to collect some of his shuriken on the far side of the field. He had felt familiar chakra hovering on the edge of the training grounds for the past half hour, so wasn’t surprised when a nervous Naruto appeared next to him just as he picked up the last weapon.

Sasuke had discovered that the reason he hadn’t seen either Sakura or Naruto at the ball - or anywhere else - for the past few weeks was because Kakashi had sent them on a mission to give them a chance to ‘cool off.’

“Hey, Sasuke, do you...have a minute to talk?” The blonde asked in an uncharacteristically subdued tone.

Sasuke glanced at him, taking in the wide blue eyes and slumped, kicked puppy posture, and had to resist rolling his eyes. Instead, he inclined his head, then turned and started making his way towards home.

Naruto fell into step with him, a comfortable and familiar presence at his side, though the silence was different. Naruto didn’t speak until Sasuke let them both into his apartment and grabbed two beers out of the fridge, tossing one to him before sitting on the couch.

“So...” Naruto said, studying the bottle in his hand and picking at the label. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. For not listening to you, and for pushing you to date somebody when you didn’t want to. That was...wrong.”

“Tch. You aren’t sorry for punching me?” Sasuke finally said and smirked when Naruto glared at him.

“No, you deserved that. Why didn’t you tell me it was Hinata?”

Sasuke looked away. “I didn’t think you’d care.”

Naruto stood up and ran his fingers through his hair in agitation, then began pacing, his beer forgotten on the coffee table. Sasuke watched him, wary of getting punched in the face again.

“How could you think I wouldn’t care?” He finally said, voice small and hurt. “I know I messed up with her, but...we were engaged. She was the first girl I -”

“Right,” Sasuke said, cutting him off before he could finish that sentence. “Naruto, you spent months trying to set me up with the girl you’re in love with. Why would I think you’d care about me dating the girl that you told me you didn’t love romantically?”

Naruto stared at him, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not giving an inch. “Plus, it isn’t your business who she dates,” he finally said. “That’s between her and me, and I won’t disrespect her by asking the guy who broke her heart for permission.”

He sat back, and Naruto continued to stare. Finally, he huffed and sat down, face contorting into a pout.

“Well when you put it like that, it makes me sound like a jerk. And...I did love her, you know? I was just. Stupid, I guess, and still stuck on the dream of Sakura. I don’t think you should have asked me for permission, I just wish you had _told_ me.”

“I didn’t want you butting in,” Sasuke said bluntly. “I won’t apologize, because I’d probably do it the same way again.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “You’re such a bastard,” he grumbled.

Sasuke leaned forward and cleared his throat. “Hinata. You’re not still...” he trailed off, feeling something like dread in his chest.

Naruto studied him with an uncharacteristically blank expression before shaking his head no once.

“Nah. I think...I have a lot of regret and guilt, still. But no, I’m not interested in getting back together if that’s what you’re asking.”

Sasuke let out a small breath. “Good, because we’re engaged,” he said without preamble, then leaned back with a smirk as Naruto flailed so hard he sent his beer flying across the room. It was good to have the idiot back.

000

Sakura was working the late shift at the hospital, and it was uncharacteristically quiet for a Friday evening. It had been a week since she and Naruto returned from their mission, and she still hadn’t worked up the nerve to talk to Sasuke.

After talking to Kakashi, Sakura had come to the realization that she’d been acting selfishly - again. When Sasuke had returned, she’d thought that they would fall easily into the romantic relationship she was positive they were destined for. She’d been so focused on it that she’d forgotten how to be a good friend and teammate first.

Sakura hadn’t gone to see Sasuke and apologize for one reason: she was ashamed. In the past year, she’d tried to kiss Naruto while he was engaged to another person, insisted on treating Sasuke herself and ended up delaying his cure, and trailed after him like a puppy, completely disregarding his feelings. Sakura was sure he must hate her - right now, she hated herself.

At Shizune’s suggestion, she’d started talking to one of the many counselors on staff the day after she and Naruto had returned from their mission.

Naruto, yet another person she’d hurt irreparably. They’d had a lot of long talks on that mission, and in the end, he had accepted that she didn’t love him romantically, and she had promised him that she would join him in his new ‘support Sasuke’ plan.

Her counselor told her that after everything that happened - the war, Tsunade dying - she’d probably been focusing on her feelings for Sasuke to avoid dealing with all of her other emotions. Sakura had to admit he had a point. She sighed and sat back, staring at the ceiling and generally feeling awful.

Familiar footfalls approached the currently empty breakroom, and Sakura looked up as Hinata entered the room. She stopped abruptly when she saw Sakura and took a step back. Sakura caught sight of the large ring she’d heard so much about just before Hinata subtly shifted it so that it was hiding in the folds of her white coat, out of sight.

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t know you were here. I’ll just -” Hinata started to turn around, intent on leaving.

“Wait!” Sakura blurted.

Hinata paused and looked over her shoulder, and the careful look on her face made Sakura want to cry. She and Hinata had trained at the hospital together, fought and bled together, gone on girls’ nights and exchanged meaningful looks over Ino’s shoulders as she ranted about Sai.

“Hinata, please wait. I - I’d like to speak with you if you have a moment.” Hinata, ever polite, turned back and slowly made her way into the room, perching on the edge of the couch, looking ready to leap up and run off at any sign of provocation.

Sakura forced herself not to glance down at her hands, keeping her eyes on her face.

“Hinata, I owe you an apology. It - it’s overdue, I know. Long overdue. That day -” her voice cracked, and she took a moment to clear her throat. “That day I was - I don’t know what I was thinking. It was selfish, and horrible. There’s really no excuse. You were my friend and I...I guess I forgot that in the middle of my own pain.”

Hinata’s eyes were wide, and her lower lip trembled just the tiniest bit. “Sakura...” she said in a low voice, and she gave her a watery smile.

“I want you to know, that I’m going to support Sasuke in his decisions now. I owe him an apology, as well. I can only hope he’ll forgive me, and allow me to be his friend again. Anyway, I’m only telling you this so that you know, I won’t try to cause any trouble. I _do_ want Sasuke to be happy, and. I just wanted to congratulate you on your - your engagement.”

Sakura was surprised at how steadily she’d gotten that out. When Ino had come to her house the night she’d returned with icecream and action movies and the news that Sasuke was engaged, she’d cried for hours. The next morning, she’d gotten out of bed, spent some time getting ready, and went shopping with Ino and Temari. She was done moping and pining - that wasn't who she was anymore. She’d just forgotten for awhile, is all.

Hinata leaned forward and grabbed both of Sakura’s hands in her own. “Sakura. I forgive you. You - you’re Sasuke’s family. And I’d like to be your friend again, when you’re ready.”

Sakura ignored the feeling of the metal band around Hinata’s finger against her knuckle and smiled at her.

“I’d like that, too,” she said.

Apologizing to Hinata had made Sakura feel about ten times lighter - she hadn’t realized just how much guilt she’d been carrying around over her part in the woman’s breakup with Naruto. It was with newfound determination fueled by that good feeling that she tracked Sasuke down.

“Hey,” she said when he opened the door to his apartment. He was just back from a mission if his dirty clothes and rough appearance were any indication. When he glanced down at himself, she gave him a tight smile.

“It will only take a moment.”

He stepped back and to the side, motioning her inside. She followed him into the kitchen and shook her head no when he asked if she wanted a drink. They stood awkwardly for a moment before Sakura took a deep breath and tilted her chin up, meeting his eyes and ignoring the way it made her heart ache.

“Sasuke, I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. I haven’t been acting like a friend recently. I hope -” her voice cracked, and she blinked rapidly, annoyed with her tears. “I hope you can forgive me someday. I promise, I’m giving up on any...romance between us. I guess I was just stuck in the past.”

Courage running out, she looked down at her feet, waiting for his response. A moment later she was engulfed in a hug. It only lasted for a moment before he stepped back.

“Don’t be stupid, of course, we’re still friends,” he said, and she had to tamp down a smile when she looked up and saw him looking to the side, uncomfortable with his display of affection.

“Okay,” she said, and couldn’t stop the beaming smile that came across her face. He returned it with a small quirk of his lips.

“Okay,” he agreed.

000

Later that night Hinata was curled up against Sasuke on the couch, staring down at her ring.

“Father said the elders approved the marriage contract,” she said tentatively, and Sasuke grunted. She turned a little and raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed.

“I heard that there was some trouble reintegrating some of the former branch members into the main branch. People still holding grudges over their treatment.”

Hinata nodded slowly. There were some issues, not that they were unexpected. “Yes, it’s going to take some time for those who were hurt to forgive.”

Sasuke just hummed non-committedly, then continued. “I offered some of the houses in the old Uchiha district for Hyuuga to move into. I thought...we could start getting people to move into the area, so it won’t just be us there.”

They’d decided to move into Sasuke’s parent’s old house after they were married. Hinata hadn’t told him, but she’d already felt a little lonely at the prospect of leaving her always-full clan house to move into the empty district. She smiled, and he hesitantly returned it.

“I’m glad,” she said. “No wonder they agreed so easily. Things have been a little tense; some space might be good.” Since Hinata would also be moving to that area, nobody would feel like whoever was moving into the housing near her were being put entirely outside the purview of the clan.

“That was smart,” she said and bit her lip when he puffed up just a little.

“Sakura apologized to me today,” Hinata said, and Sasuke frowned and looked down at her.

Naruto had already found her and given another apology for the way he’d handled their breakup earlier that week. Hinata had found that it didn’t hurt the way it used to - probably because she had a new future to look forward to.

“Oh?” Sasuke’s voice was neutral, but she knew he was interested in knowing how it went.

“I think we’re friends again,” Hinata said and smiled a bit when he relaxed. “They’re your family, Sasuke. I want a good relationship with them,” she said firmly.

He leaned down at kissed her, and she sighed, melting against him. When he pulled back, he tugged her back against him so that her head was laying on his chest.

“She apologized to me, too. I think...things will be good now.”

“Yes,” Hinata agreed, mouth curving into a smile. “Things will be perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love hearing from you, so if you're feeling up to it, please leave a comment on your way out! Either way, thanks so much for reading! :)


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